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by littlesheep
Summary: Part 2 to If Love Would Be Easy. If you liked that one, you're gonna LOVE this. I promise. Don't believe me? Check for yourself : Chapter 20, You know, Don’t You? up now. Pure SMacked story of course. StellaMac. Complete now - part 3 will follow!
1. Foreign Affairs

**Everyone who read "If Love Would Be Easy" - dig in your mind for the end of the last chapter. We start right the next morning. For those who didn't read that story, I think you should go back and do that first - otherwise you would be very confused ;-)**

**Okay folks - first, we finish the case from the previous story (in case nobody noticed, it hadn't been solved yet #gg#). And then we see that the relationship moves on, right?**

**Please, please - read and then review, will you?**

**- **

_**Chapter 1 – Foreign Affairs**_

When Stella came to work the next morning, Mac was already in his office. He hadn't spent the night although she had offered to let him stay. And so far, she didn't dare push him. Both were still overly careful and protective about their newly found intimacy, neither of them wanted to destroy the wispy closeness they had just learned to enjoy so much.

"I'm sorry, Mac, I know I'm a little late," Stella started after entering his office.

"Mornin' Stella, did you have a good night..."

…_without me?_

He interrupted his question after he turned around and looked over to her.

"What happened to YOU?" he wondered, pointing at the bandage around her left wrist.

"Garden work," Stella replied as if it were the most logical thing in the world.

"Can't even leave you alone for a couple of hours, hum?" he teased her and was just about to turn back to the file drawer behind him.

"There you have it," she nodded. "I told you to stay last night."

Mac didn't reply. He would have loved to stay, but at the same time didn't want to rush things. He wanted to give them both time to get used to the situation and most of all, he didn't want to push her. What they had now after all the complications was so precious that it needed to be protected very carefully.

"Wait a second… Your apartment is on 12th floor, you don't have a garden!?" he suddenly realized.

"Yeah, well, not exactly _garden_ work. I have this little box with herbs in my kitchen which I placed on a shelf next to the window, remember? I wanted to get it down to cut some fresh herbs for a dip, I slipped from the chair, I tried to catch myself with my hands and …"

She held up her bandaged wrist as the final explanation.

"… voilà!"

Mac shook his head with a smile.

"Garden work… You sure you didn't hurt your head as well?"

Stella shot him a warning look which instantly caused him to focus on some random file he grabbed from the drawer.

Luckily for him, at this moment Mac's beeper interrupted the silence. He took it from his belt and after a look at it turned back to Stella.

"Sid found something on the bones from the gym bag. Could you do me a favor and check it out? I need to finish some papers for the DA that can't wait…"

"Yes, sir!" she saluted with a smile. On her way along the corridors she wondered why once again it was her turn to go to the morgue.

XXXXX

Sid was standing at an autopsy table, his back towards the door when Stella entered the morgue.

"Hey Sid, you found something on our gym bag guy?"

They already knew from bone size and structure that the victim was male.

Sid turned around and his face lit up with a broad smile when he saw that Stella was responding his call instead of Mac.

"Twice on one day… Admit it, you can't live without me," he grinned.

Stella rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"I haven't been here since yesterday…" she reminded him.

"Never mind. Anything within less than 24 hours I interpret as irresistible attraction," he stated.

Stella raised her left eyebrow. The right one wouldn't raise yet again, it was still slightly swollen after the ungentle contact with Mac's door earlier.

"If you say so… What have you got for us about the case?"

"Right, the case. Have a look at this," he motioned to the microscope in front of him and moved aside to let her check his findings.

She went over and examined the samples Sid had placed there. After a moment, she looked up and turned towards him.

"Is that gold??"

"Gold implants to be precise," he confirmed.

"Doesn't look like dental filling," Stella wondered.

"Not that kind of implant. It's something like acupuncture. They do that with dogs that have a slipped disc as an alternative method of treatment. I just didn't know they perform this on humans as well. I found it in the soft tissue that was left on some vertebras. You think you make something out of this?"

"Sure! We just need to find the one who performs this kind of treatment, shouldn't be too many possible 'suspects'. And after we find this guy, we can ask him if one of his patients started skipping appointments, so we could be able to identify the victim. Which again might help us with the suspect they arrested. Good work, Sid!"

"Anything to oblige!" he smiled at her with a nod.

"I'll go and tell Mac, he's gonna love this," Stella smiled back and turned to leave.

"Oh, Stella…" Sid called after her.

She turned around.

"Yeah?"

"Remember you owe me a date? I know it's very short notice, but since my wife is still out of town as you know… There's this med school reunion at Lincoln Center tonight, lots of old study buddies coming. It's with partners and …"

"Pick me up at 7:30?" Stella returned, interrupting his long explanation.

"You are coming with me??"

"Sure, why not? Could be interesting to find out if all coroners are like you or if we just got an extraordinary specimen," she grinned.

Sid flashed her a smile.

"I'll be on time," he replied. "Casual clothing, no dressing up required."

"Alright, see ya tonight."

XXXXX

After taking the samples Sid had extracted from the bones to Trace, Stella went back to the lab and worked on some evidence since Mac was still busy with paperwork.

After lunch, she went to his office. Through the glass door she could see him sitting at his desk, hunched over a heap of folders, reports and printouts. He briefly looked up when she tapped and gestured her in.

"You got time now? Sid found something really interesting which could be a break in both our gym bag case and Danny's deli robbery and I think you'd be excited to learn that …" Stella started while approaching his desk.

Mac gave a non-committal grunt.

She wasn't sure if it was meant to be a comment on what she had just told him or on something regarding the documents he was studying.

_Uhum, not with me,_ she figured.

"… I'm having an affair with an alien," she finished her sentence.

Another grunt, a page was turned.

"And I just found out that I'm pregnant. I'm gonna have a little alien baby…"

"I see…"

Another page was turned.

Stella didn't continue, she was waiting for her words to sink in. She knew that eventually they would reach some part of his brain that wasn't on autopilot.

Then the folder suddenly nearly flew off the table and he looked up in shock.

"You are WHAT ?!?"

_Ah, reaction…_

TBC

-

**No worries - the first chapters are actually more the rest of "If Love..." - I just needed to make a cut there because the atmosphere changes here from previously emotional/complicated to now more light/playful. It's an introduction for more - and you know... The more you ask me, the faster you might get an update ;-)**

**xxxlittlesheepxxx**


	2. Wrong Place, Wrong Time

**Wow. What else can I say... THANKS! You guys are so cute - picture a little sheep with a very broad smile in front of a very old screen right now :-) Sorry for keeping you waiting a little - my internet was down for two days, then I'm on vacation right now (my horse is on a trip at the North Sea with the horse of a friend and we go there every day for riding), then I had to reply SO many reviews...**

**Here's the next part - I hope you like it, too!**

**-**

_**Chapter 2 – Wrong Place, Wrong Time**_

"With me now?" Stella checked to make sure she wouldn't have to tell the story twice.

"Sorry, yeah. Just tell me the part with Sid again and leave the alien out. I'm gonna take care of that guy later," Mac smiled apologetically.

"Uhum. Well, Sid found samples of gold in the soft tissue around the bones from the gym bag. He examined them and found out they were like implants used for some sort of alternative treatment or so. You know, like acupuncture. I took those samples to Trace, results should be back in about two hours. With that, I'll do a search to find the doctor who did the treatment. That should help us to identify the victim. I'm guessing we're looking for an Asian, after all the deli where the robbery – if it was a robbery after all – took place is also run by Vietnamese."

Mac nodded.

"Sounds good. You take care of that and let me know once we have an ID on the vic. Flack called earlier, the guy they had arrested, the one whose prints were found at the scene, has given up some names and the entire gang has been busted. So once we ID the victim, both cases closed. Oh, he also said he got something for us in the Moormann case. He's coming over later, I'll page you when he's here."

"Sure. I'll go and find Danny to update him about this," Stella replied and left the office again.

XXXXX

About two hours later, Stella's beeper interrupted her work on some other evidence. She picked it up from the table next to her and smiled. Then she went over to the Trace lab.

"Adam, you paged me? Got the results from the gold samples I gave you?"

Adam looked up from the evidence he was working on and gave her a shy smile. He was the best on his field of work, yet the presence of Stella or even more Mac would always make him pretty nervous. Hastily, he looked around, then remembered and picked up some printouts from a table behind him.

"Yeah, right. This is what the analysis coughed up," he said and handed her the sheets with results of the chemical compounds.

"Seems the gold is specially made for treatment in human medicine. It's high quality and there shouldn't be too many places where you can get this kind of stuff. Think you will be able to find the one who used this?" he gave her an insecure look with another shy smile.

"Absolutely. I'm gonna have a look for companies that sell this kind of supply and then check out how they make sales . I'm thinking we're looking for some individual healer, so we can exclude manufacturers that only do wholesale or only deal with hospitals and other large customers."

"You think you'll get information from them about their customers?" Adam doubtingly asked.

Stella slightly grimaced.

"Yeah, well… Think positive, right? I hope we can handle this without a subpoena. Otherwise we would have to harry some judge, then we would have to go to each place and talk to them in person. I hope it just works via phone, would make things a lot smoother," she returned.

"Need any help?" Another shy smile including a look, almost avoiding her eyes.

"Why not? Thanks, Adam!"

She knew Adam was very ambitious and interested in learning. He would never ask Mac if he could take a more active part in investigations, but since Mac had told her to take care of things and Adam was involved in this anyway, why not let him do some of the work and learn more about research and investigations outside of his regular lab work?

XXXXX

"Okay, hand me the results, I'll enter them into the data base for suppliers of medical paraphernalia and we see where that gets us," Stella started to explain.

Adam gave her the sheets and she started to type. After entering the individual chemical compounds and selecting "supplier", she hit the "Search" key. Some seconds later, the computer beeped.

"69,000 results. Great…" Stella announced with a sigh and entered "New York City" in the field for local search. "Lesson no. 1 when doing a research like this: Limit the search area to what you are interested in."

Adam nodded, absorbing everything she was doing and explaining to him.

"27 results. Now, that's what we can start with," Stella was satisfied and hit the print key. Then she got up and picked the paper from the printer.

"Here, you start with one page, I'll take the other one," she ordered and handed one page to Adam. "Check the websites and see if you can find information about if they sell to individuals or just to larger customers. Later we call those who only provide small customers and see if we have any luck with them."

Adam nodded again and started to enter the first address into his computer while Stella was doing the same at another place.

XXXXX

"The remains belong to one Thanh Son Nguyen!" Stella exclaimed when she stormed into Mac's office some hours later.

He looked up in surprise, trying to focus his attention from the report he had been reading to Stella's announcement.

She immediately noticed that Mac didn't get what she was talking about right away. The question mark hanging above his head was almost visible. She rolled her eyes and raised both arms in the air.

"Mac! The bones… From the gym bag? The gold implants?" she impatiently tried to get his attention.

"Yeah, yeah, of course. Sorry, I was just still focused on the report. So you got an ID already?" Mac hurried to reply while he got up and over to her to check the results she had with her.

"Didn't I just say that?"

Sometimes he was really difficult…

"Adam and I found the company that sold the gold implants and they were very cooperative and gave me the names of their most recent customers. Luckily it's not exactly something that sells like hot cakes and we only had three possible candidates in the end. I talked to them and found out that only one of them had treated a male patient who fit the profile we had from the bone analysis within the last few months. The name of the patient is Thanh Son Nguyen, age 43, born and raised in Vietnam. He came to the US 13 years ago, became an American citizen and was known as a reliable and honest man and hard worker."

"How was he involved with the deli robbery?" Mac wondered while he quickly searched the printouts for an answer to his question.

"He wasn't. Not directly. And it wasn't a robbery," Stella answered, not really helping to make things clearer for him.

"What?!"

In that moment, Flack opened the door to Mac's office and entered the room. When he spotted Stella with her bandaged wrist and still even though just very lightly visible black eye, he hesitated.

"Hey, how does the other one look like?" he joked.

"Whoa, easy!" Mac grabbed for her arm and held her back with a grin before she could attack Flack who quickly took a step away from her.

"Sorry," he smirked.

"What have you got for us, Don?" Mac tried to ease the situation by setting the focus on something else.

Flack gave him a thankful glance, not without noticing that Mac still didn't let go of Stella's arm.

"Right. The guy we arrested in the deli robbery finally opened his mouth. He's a member of a gang that deals in protection money. They mainly go for small stores, delis, snack stands – you name it. He also gave up the name of his accomplices, we arrested all of them two hours ago. Also the one whose print you found on the gym bag," he gave a short summary on the current status in the case.

"So it wasn't a robbery after all?" Stella asked.

"No, it wasn't. The gang was there to collect money, but this time the owner refused to pay. So they tossed the place to send him a warning and when the police came, he reported it as a robbery to avoid further trouble."

"What about Nguyen?" Stella inquired further.

"Who's that?"

"The vic in the gym bag. Was he one of the owners?"

"Ah, you got an ID on him! The suspects didn't give us one, claimed they didn't know him. According to the deli owner, none of their relatives or employees was missing. But a regular customer who came in on a daily basis didn't show up recently. They were already wondering. Maybe the perps saw him talking to the staff and assumed he was one of them. Bad luck for the poor guy," Flack said.

"Innocent bystander… Wrong place, wrong time," Stella confirmed.

Mac nodded without saying anything.

"So at least we got both cases connected and closed," he added after a few moments. "Leaves us with the Moormann case which doesn't really make any progress."

"Not exactly," Flack objected. "I wasn't done yet."

"You got more for us?" Mac got interested.

"You're gonna love this: Remember the guy we had at the precinct for an interview, the one who tried to get into the Moormann apartment with a key?"

"Yeah, what about him?"

"Funny guy. Claims he knows absolutely nothing and nobody, couldn't even tell us from whom he got the key. After a bit more rattling, he finally gave us a name that he heard 'somewhere'. Says he never met the guy, but swears that he will be someone who could know something," Flack summarized the interview.

"Huh. You think there's something in that?" Stella skeptically asked.

"Who knows? Here's the work address of the guy, why don't you go and check him out?" Flack asked back and handed her a note.

"Thanks, we're gonna go there tomorrow in the morning," she returned.

"Alright, let me know if you find anything," Flack said. "Gotta get back to the precinct, still got some reports to complete."

Mac nodded as he left, then turned back to Stella.

"Tomorrow, why not now? Place is only a few blocks from here, we could catch the guy today if he's in?"

"Yeah, but … um, I sorta got plans for tonight and I would need to leave a little earlier and change," she replied with a careful grin.

"Plans for tonight?" Mac raised his eyebrows.

"I … um, I'm going out with … Sid."

Silence.

Mac slightly shook his head, not really sure if he should laugh or get suspicious.

"You have a date with _**Sid**_??"

TBC

**-**

**Your turn! Please let me know what you think, okay?**

**xxxlittlesheepxxx**


	3. Close Encounter, Episode 2

**Are you crazy? Yes, apparently... ;-) But I absolutely love you for this!**

**Alright, I'm back from vacation - actually my little horse is back - and it was just great. We had a lot of fun, been at the North Sea, in the mudlands (when it's low tide, you can ride kilometers into the mudlands where normally you have the Sea)... Great fun.**

**I also had great fun seeing that you are so worried about Stella going out with Sid. Hey! Who am I??? Would I really do this? I could, sure. But would I? No. ;-) Maybe this chapter will help a little to ease your worries. I know you're gonna love it :-)**

**Remember the chapter "Close Encounter" from "If Love..."? Jump back if you don't - this is part 2 ;-)**

**-**

_**Chapter 3 – Close Encounter, Episode 2**_

Not that he wouldn't mind her meeting someone, but now that they were – they were together now, weren't they?? And after all Sid was married and …

"Not a date. Not exactly," Stella quickly tried to calm him down.

Was he jealous?

Actually quite funny thought after all. Mac being jealous of Sid…

_Hilarious…_

"See, he asked me out on a drink recently, but I had to say no because I had other plans that night. So we agreed on some other time. Now there's some reunion from his medical school tonight, lots of study buddies or so, partners included. And his wife is visiting her sister. So he asked me to go with him, that's it. You have nothing to worry about," she reassured him.

"Who's worried??" Mac tried to convince her that he didn't for a second have anything like that in mind.

Stella briefly nodded. She could read him like an open book, she knew he was still insecure and it would take some work to really make him believe there was nothing and nobody that could come between them. Yet there was no way of confronting him with it, this would only make it worse.

She quickly looked around, nobody was to be seen in the hallway. She grabbed for Mac's jacket and pulled him with her behind the door.

"What are you doing?" he managed to choke out before she closed his mouth with a passionate kiss.

"Just playing a little…" she rapped out without stopping her attack.

She felt his response immediately. Within moments, he returned the kiss just as intensely as she had started it. His hands wandered behind her back and pulled her closer into his body while her own hands stayed on his waist, trying to balance herself. For a few seconds, both were completely lost in their own world.

"Hey Mac?! You in here?" Danny called as he barged in.

As quickly as they had started, Stella and Mac interrupted their little encounter. Mac rapidly jumped back, adjusting his jacket and turned to Danny, while Stella hastily tugged a strand of hair behind her ear and grabbed some files from the cabinet next to the door.

"Hey Danny," she said, still slightly out of breath.

"Stella, hi. Sorry, am I interrupting something?" Danny asked, his focus only on the results he had in his hands.

"No, no… I was just about to leave anyway. Mac, I'll call you later," she mumbled on her way out.

_Phew. THAT was close! And nice…_

She returned to her office with a smile on her face. Who would have thought that Mac Taylor would be able to lose control that easily?

XXXXX

Only a few minutes later, Mac appeared in Stella's office when she was just about to leave the room.

"Where are you going?" he asked curiously.

"Checking up on me?" she gave him a suspicious smile.

"Would I ever??" he raised both hands with a broad grin.

Stella shook her head. He was really behaving a little weird lately.

"I'm on my way to the restroom if you must know. I … had a little close encounter and I need to fix my hair – and clothes," she stated with a little wink and left him behind without a further comment.

After a short moment of irritation, Mac followed her along the corridors and caught up with her when she reached the restroom door. Within seconds he made a decision. He looked around to make sure nobody saw them and pushed her inside. Then he locked the door.

"What are you doing??" Stella gasped in surprise.

"Make sure that we won't be disturbed," he briefly returned while he pushed her into the last stall at the other end of the room.

"So… you wanted to play?" he asked with a challenging tone in his voice.

Stella was silent for a moment, a mixture of surprise and thrill rushed through her system. Then she quickly decided to play along.

"This isn't exactly romantic, is it?" she asked.

"I'll show you…" Mac returned playfully.

"Someone could walk in any minute," she tried to object.

"The door is locked," he stated and positioned himself so that her back was pressed against the wall. "And besides, that's half the fun."

Stella moaned quietly and wrapped her arms around his neck to support herself. Mac moved his arms around her waist, causing her to giggle with delight.

"Fun?" she whispered.

"Yeah - are you having fun?"

She moaned again as he pulled her in for a long, passionate kiss, while she grabbed his shirt with both hands, pressing her body closer against his.

Mac briefly closed his eyes at the result of his affections. Then he smiled at her and ran his fingertips down her neck towards her chest. He stopped when he reached her cleavage.

"This is sexual harassment," Stella weakly complained, the sound of her voice betraying her words. At the same time, she slowly started to open his belt and let one hand slide into his pants while she grabbed his waist with the other one.

"And what do you call _this_??" he gasped in surprise.

"Self defense," she returned with an impish smile while she slowly went down on her knees. Very slowly and carefully she tried to slide the zipper down.

"Stella…" Mac objected hesitantly, trying to pull her back up.

"Shsh…" she interrupted him with a smile. "Relax, Mac."

He buried his hands in her curls, trying to get some sort of hold. She could feel he was getting close before she even really did anything.

"Wait…" he choked, his voice dark with arousal. "Don't. Not here, not like this… I want our first time to be special…"

"This isn't special?" Stella mischievously asked, while she gave him a playful smile.

"More special," he mouthed, trying to regain control over his body and breathing. No matter how much he wanted it, it shouldn't happen this way.

Reluctantly, Stella pulled herself up again. They looked each other in the eyes for a long time, then she placed a light kiss on Mac's lips.

"I agree," she sighed with a little sign of regret in her voice. Then she stepped out of the stall and started rearranging her clothes. After a look in the mirror at the opposite wall she laughed.

"What?" Mac wondered as he looked over to her while fixing his own clothes.

"Now I _really_ need to do something about my hair…"

TBC

**-**

**Okay - and now I'm expecting tons of reviews ;-) Let me know if this is what you want - and you get more soon! xxxlittlesheepxxx**


	4. Stairway to Grumpytown

**What can I say? Thanks! You guys are unbelievable - picture me with SUCH a broad smile in front of my screen :-)**

**Oh - and I forgot one thing I wanted to do several times - besides you guys who review all the time and to whom I can send personal "thank yous" - also a BIG thanks to everyone who activates the alerts! Can't reply to those, but I appreciate you as well :-D **

**Ready for more? Here we go...**

**-**

_**Chapter 4 – Stairway To Grumpytown**_

Stella and Sid were standing at the buffet, plates with food in their hands. Sid was dressed in a dark grey suit with a light blue shirt, Stella was wearing a light green summer dress, her hair put up. They both enjoyed the party and the talking with Sid's old buddies.

Apart from one little thing…

"Sid, your wife looks absolutely stunning!"

Stella had stopped counting those comments and Sid's recurrent reply. Once again he returned

"She's not my wife, she's a friend and colleague at the lab. Stella, this is Frederick Waters. Fred, this is Stella Bonasera, CSI at the NYPD."

"Pleased to meet you," Fred Waters smiled and gave her a short kiss on her right hand.

Stella nodded back with a smile, but her focus was on a conversation between a group of men behind Sid's back.

"You never heard of 'Riley Moormann'?!? Man, you have been married for too long, man!" one of them just said to the guy next to him.

Sid gave her a light slap on her arm.

"Did you hear that?! Isn't that the name of--" he whispered excitedly.

"Shsh!" Stella quickly silenced him. "They don't need to hear us! Let's just see if we can overhear a bit of what they are talking about, maybe we can learn something that will finally help us to find out who this guy is," she whispered in his ear and moved a little closer to the group, pretending to be interested in the food supply next to them on the long table.

Luckily they didn't take notice of her and continued their talk without bothering their surroundings.

XXXXX

Stella and Mac met in the lobby of an office building the next morning. They were looking for the guy Flack had mentioned the other day.

"Dammit…" Stella heard a curse as she walked over to the elevators where Mac was standing.

"Good morning, sunshine!" she greeted him overly cheerful.

Mac scowled at her without a word. For a second, she wondered. Then she noticed a sign at the elevator doors.

_**Out of order – Annual preventive maintenance**_

"Great. What now? Who knows how long that will take …" Mac grumbled.

"Now? The elevators don't work, we take the stairs," Stella stated neutrally and opened the door to the staircase for him, motioning for him to enter with her right arm.

Mac rolled his eyes and reluctantly followed her order.

"You would never believe what happened last night," she began her report on what had happened at the party the other night as they started their way upstairs.

Mac still grumbled over the elevators while he climbed the stairs two steps behind her.

"You had fun, you and Sid?"

Stella briefly glanced over her shoulder. Either he just got up from the wrong side of the bed this morning, or he was really jealous. Nah, ridiculous…

She decided to ignore the grumpy mood for the moment and instead went on with her story.

"Actually yes, we did. It was a nice evening, nice people there, we talked to lots of people and the food was really great. But that's not really what I wanted to tell you about. That is, unless you are interested in a detailed report on the buffet?"

Another grumble was followed by another suspicious look.

Apparently not interested. Good. Whatever.

She had important news to tell him and she knew he would want to hear them. And he could grumble all the way or not, he couldn't escape her at the moment. The office they were looking for was on the 23rd floor – and right now, they had only made it to the sixth one.

"At one point," Stella started another attempt, this time absolutely determined to outline all the details before he could interrupt her again, "we were standing at the buffet, talking to some guy when we suddenly heard parts of a conversation right next to us. There was a group of three men and suddenly we heard them talking about a certain 'Riley Moormann'. Sound familiar? Yeah, that's how Sid looked as well. Luckily I managed to silence him before he got the attention of those guys and so we were able to overhear more of their conversation. You never gonna believe it – get this: 'Riley Moormann' is an alias. Actually 'he' doesn't even exist at all. 'Riley Moormann' is an anagram for 'Marilyn Monroe'. You know, change the order of the letters and get another word…? Anyway, this apartment where we found the dead guy, is one of several places rented in the name of 'Riley Moormann' – who does not exist – and is actually a place for guys where they can… you know, take their secret dates so that they don't have to go to a hotel or whatever. No credit card receipts, no suspicious money transfers. There is some kind of club that sounds totally legitimate and harmless, they pay a 'membership fee' and can use the apartments. This is also the reason why we didn't find any sign of a woman – or any personal affects for that matter. The apartment is more like a hotel room, nobody actually lives there. The only stuff we found there were the personal belongings of our vic. As it seems, it is also frequently used by guys with special interest. Married guys who have an affair with another man, guys who wear female clothes and have an affair with a transvestite or transsexual, you name it."

She made a pause and turned around to see if Mac was still behind her.

"How do you do that? 23 floors and you are talking nonstop…" he groaned while trying to keep up with her.

"What? A strong guy like you can't keep up with little old me? And I thought you go running several miles every morning before work…" she teased him.

XXXXX

Stella and Mac left the staircase and stepped into the entrance area of an open-plan office with lots of cubicles in the rear part. While they still prospected for someone to ask about the man they were looking for, a man in a neat and clean dark blue pinstripe approached them.

"Excuse me, what are you doing here?" he asked, attempting to sound very important.

Mac and Stella briefly shared wondering looks, then Mac flashed his badge and introduced himself.

"Detective Taylor, this is Detective Bonasera. We're looking for Peter Milberg."

"Why are you looking for Mr. Milberg?" Pinstripe returned a counter question instead of a reply.

"We'd rather discuss that with him personally. Can you tell us where to find him?" Mac returned politely.

"Which department exactly are you from?" Pinstripe continued to ignore the request.

"NYPD, CSI – and you are?"

"Michael T. Bellmore, I'm the substitute supervisor of the department. Can I tell Mr. Milberg what this is about?"

Stella took a short breath, her patience was running out and she noticed that the little game with Pinstripe here wouldn't get them anywhere.

"Listen, how about if WE ask the questions, hum?" she asked in an exaggeratedly patient voice.

Mac quickly glanced at her, the right corner of his mouth slightly twitched in amusement. Then he turned back to Bellmore.

"Alright, will you tell us where to find Mr. Milberg now or do we need to call for backup and search the entire office, including a full review of your financial records for the past 10 years?" he calmly asked.

Pinstripe got in a huff.

"He has an appointment with a customer this morning, you would have to come back after lunch to meet him personally. I can also give you his business card, so you can call him on his cell phone," he quickly offered after noticing the expression on Mac's face.

Mac instantly ruled out the option of having to walk up to the 23rd floor for a second time the same day and briefly nodded.

"Yeah, you do that."

Bellmore nodded and took off. Moments later he returned and handed Mac the requested card.

They left him standing without a further word and returned to the door leading to the staircase. Before entering, they turned around once more, looking in the direction they had just come from.

"Do you believe this?" Mac wondered.

"Ah, forget about that jerk. Never mind such 'wannabes'," Stella waved off.

On the way down, Mac didn't quit grumbling because the whole effort had been for nothing. Finally somewhere between 8th and 9th floor, Stella had enough. She turned around and grabbed for his right arm with her left hand. He made a little step backwards until he was stopped by the wall behind him.

Stella swept a strand of hair out of her face and got closer to him. Her lips lightly brushed across his right ear as she wrapped both arms around his back. Before he could object, she pulled him close and kissed him passionately. Her tongue teased the edges of his lips and then gently probed the inside of his mouth. His lips felt soft, his chest hard against hers. After a short moment, she felt him relax. His body molded to hers and he started responding to her kiss just as intensely. He moved his left hand into her curls, the right one placed on the small of her back.

Only when they heard the opening of a door somewhere above them in the staircase, they reluctantly but quickly parted.

"Sorry," Stella smiled. "This has to be enough for now…"

"We will continue this," Mac returned also smiling.

"Definitely!" she agreed, overjoyed that he was opening up more and more.

TBC

-

**Let me know what you think - make me want to update soon, will you? ;-)**

**xxxlittlesheepxxx**


	5. Interview with a Groundhog

**I just heard that the previous posting might have had a glitch? Just to be on the safe side, I'm posting this one again. For those who already read and reviewed - a preliminary THANKS! For the others, I hope it works properly now - please check if you can read and review, I'll update with the next one soon:-)**

**Here it comes again:  
**

**I'm terribly sorry... I know I said that reviewing would make me want to post fast - and you did really great - but I have to admit I was a bit lazy and very tired this week. Sorry! I promise to be better!**

**Credit for the title of the previous chapter goes partly to my friend Mitch (who also pre-reviews my writing) - he came up with "Grumpytown", the rest is mine ;-) And I forgot something else which belongs to chapter one of course - my disclaimer. So just for the record, here it is:**

**Disclaimer**: All the original characters belong to their owners - except for Mac. **Mac belongs to Stella**.

-

_**Chapter 5 – Interview with a Groundhog**_

Later in the afternoon, Stella and Mac were on the way to the interrogation room. In the meantime they had reached Peter Milberg on his cell phone and he had agreed to come to the precinct for an interview. Apparently he was more than eager to avoid another visit by them at his work place. Something Mac absolutely agreed with. He certainly wasn't looking for another stair climbing marathon.

Peter Milberg was what one would picture as the incarnation of an accountant. He was wearing a mouse-grey suite, white shirt and grey tie. Old-fashioned glasses with a small black frame, his hair of some undefined light brown to ash blond color neatly combed back across his head. He was sitting on his chair, legs and knees pressed together, nervously fumbling around with his hands. He stared at some point in front of him on the table, trying to avoid looking at Mac or Stella.

"Mr. Milberg," Stella started slowly, "we want to talk to you about an apartment building on 3rd Avenue which is rented in the name of a 'Riley Moormann'."

Milberg slightly winced when she mentioned the name. His reaction didn't slip her attention. She was on the right track and she knew it.

"We heard that you frequented this apartment at least several months at least and we were told that you might help us in an investigation regarding this place."

She waited for a reaction. It was obvious that the situation made him feel very uneasy and for a moment she was wondering what they would do if he got a heart attack right there.

Milberg gasped and swallowed, then he started to speak in a low and shaky voice.

"I don't know who told you this. I've never been at the address you mentioned and I never heard the name Riley… what was it – Moormann? before," he explained not very convincingly. He almost choked his words out between short, nervous gasps.

Stella briefly exhaled. Was he denying involvement or was he just covering?

"Look, you've been seen there and I'm sure that the doorman will be able to identify you if we show him your picture, don't you think?"

"I don't know any doorman there, I've never been there," Milberg returned stubbornly, yet almost whining.

"Yeah, sure. And I'm sure you never met a guy dressed in female clothes, blue eyes, about 6 feet, dark hair, usually wearing a blond rug when dressed up…?" she sarcastically asked.

"I'm a Certified Accountant and a good citizen, I really don't have contact with such people…" Milberg weakly defended himself.

"So you don't wanna talk about this even though you don't know yet what it is about?"

"I don't know why you asked me to come here at all and why you showed up at my work place. Do you have any idea what kind of impression that makes when the police show up at work and asks for you? I told you I have nothing to say…"

Finally Stella lost her patience.

"Okay. Then why don't we just go to the apartment building you've _never_ been to, talk with the doorman in the lobby you _never_ met and ask him if he ever saw you with this guy you know _nothing_ about?" she exclaimed while slamming a picture of the victim on the bed onto the table in front of him.

"Stella, can I talk to you outside for a moment?" Mac interrupted calmly but determined.

So far he had watched the interrogation silently, but after seeing Milberg's reaction on Stella's little outbreak, he considered a short break as appropriate and helpful for the progress of the conversation.

…

"That guy is a groundhog!" Stella complained after they had left the interview room and closed the door.

"Don't be unfair…" Mac wrinkled his forehead and tried to suppress a chuckle.

_Groundhog??_

"You're right, my apologies to the entire groundhog population, that was not nice," she grimaced.

"They will appreciate it. See, I don't see this guy in there as a possible suspect. He seems so prim, most likely he never even got a parking fine notice in his life. I just think we won't get anything out of him if we scare him."

"He's hiding something, you can see that from the way he looked when I confronted him with the doorman… He KNOWS this apartment and he HAS been there!" Stella insisted.

"I agree. So let's corner him. We know he was there and we can easily prove that. But we need to go easy here, he is our only lead and we need him to tell us what he knows. He won't tell us anything if we put him under too much pressure," Mac calmly stated.

"Alright…" she sighed.

…

"Mr. Milberg," Mac took the lead in the interrogation after they had re-entered the room, "you have to understand the situation. We know you have been in the apartment in question and you know that we have no problem to prove that. I don't know why you don't want to talk about this with us, but I can imagine. You have to know that we have no intention to cause you any trouble as long as you are not involved in any criminal activity, but you have to see that we need your help to solve a murder case. And in this regard, we will do what we have to do if you are not willing to cooperate voluntarily."

Stella gave him an admiring look. She had to admit that in difficult situations his interrogation skills were simply the best she had ever seen.

Peter Milberg moved uneasily from side to side and looked around without looking at Mac. Over and over again he took his glasses off and put them back onto his nose, then moved a hand through his hair. Finally he cleared his throat and looked up, still avoiding Mac's eyes.

After a deep breath, rather sounding like a deep sigh, he started talking.

"You have to understand… I – I'm married man, I have a good job, I'm not proud on what I'm doing, but I can't risk my wife or family or people I work with learning anything about this," he stammered nervously.

Stella got the feeling that he was willing to open up, just needed a careful push in the right direction now.

"Mr. Milberg, nobody wants to cause you problems. If you tell us what you know, we assure you that anything you say will be treated confidentially. That is of course as long as you are not involved in anything criminal as Detective Taylor already said," she now tried to comfort him.

Milberg looked at her, then at Mac, slowly starting to trust them.

"I know that…" he took another deep breath. "… I've known that I'm gay since I was about 17 years old, but never really told anyone. I wouldn't have a job like the one I have now if people would have known about this… I married my wife 15 years ago, we have a good relationship, I love my wife. But I can't change who or what I am. I'm not having affairs, usually I have a regular partner and we meet like once or twice a month. At some point, someone told me about this 'Riley Moormann' organization. They rent apartments under this alias and if you pay a certain 'membership fee', you get to use these apartments. Very discreet, much more convenient than hotels or anything else," he explained.

"What about the victim we found in the apartment?" Stella softly asked.

"His name is Rod Lascar. We met four months ago and started seeing each other several times. After a while, I got threats from someone. I told Rod about this and he said they came from his ex-boyfriend. They had split up shortly before I met Rod and his ex didn't take it very well. When I heard what had happened to Rod, I knew it was him. Rod was transsexual and planned a sex change. His ex couldn't live with that. I didn't mind, my relationship to Rod was about more than just sex. The attack was meant for me, he wanted to have me out of the way to get Rod back for himself and he blamed me for Rod not changing his mind about the hormone treatment."

He pressed his lips together and looked up. A mixture of sadness and relief was displayed in his face.

Stella nodded understandingly.

"We are very sorry for your loss, Mr. Milberg," she said. "You happen to have the name of this ex-boyfriend?"

"Mick Vincent, he works as an electrician for Summerset & Sons on 42nd Street," Milberg replied.

"Electrician," Mac returned. "That explains the sophisticated construction of the electric circuit at the scene. He knew exactly what he was doing."

He looked over at Stella who gave him an agreeing nod.

"I'll call Flack to have him arrested and to get the doorman from the apartment building here for a lineup. Thank you very much for your help, Mr. Milberg. We will do our best to keep you out of this."

"No."

"Excuse me?"

"No, I don't wanna stay out of this anymore. I've been hiding my real self all my life. It's time to face it now. I owe this to Rod and to myself. I'm going to tell my wife and my boss and I want to testify in court," Milberg firmly announced.

"Okay," Mac returned. "We will let you know when we can take your official statement and if you still decide to testify, the DA will talk to you and inform you about the next steps."

TBC

**-**

**Case closed. Actually all this was still belonging to "If Love..." - I just put this at the beginning of this one because of the changed atmosphere (I wanted to keep the other one with this emotional teardrop thing ;-)). Now we can start of with something new, right? You go and review, review, review - make me feel guilty so that I will HAVE to update quickly ;-)**

**xxxlittlesheepxxx**


	6. Two Can Play This Game

**Alright, I think there were two things wrong with chapter 5 - one was a technical problem with the first posting as it seems (if this happens again, PLEASE let me know by PM so that I can repost, I had no idea about this before!), the other was ... the chapter was a bit "dry", I admit that ;-) So it seems some of you figured "if you can't say anything nice, just say nothing" #ggg#**

**If it was just that you couldn't read chapter 5, check back now - it should be fine. Can also be post-reviewed I think. **

**Now that the boring work part is over, we can get to some "celebrating", right? Hope you like this better again ;-)**

**-**

_**Chapter 6 – Two Can Play This Game**_

"You got plans for tonight?" Mac asked later after closing the final report on the Moormann case and sending the folders to the DA's office by courier.

Stella glanced at him and tilted her head. Then she smiled mischievously.

"No, Sid's wife returned unexpectedly this morning. I'm free tonight."

Mac's eyes slightly narrowed.

Stella shook her head.

"Oh come on, Mac! I was just kidding… Why are you so sensitive about this?"

"You mean, Sid's wife isn't back yet?" Mac asked with a light smirk.

Stella rolled her eyes and tenderly punched his chest with her fists.

"Be careful, Taylor…" she playfully warned him.

He briefly pulled her into his arms and lightly brushed his lips on hers. Then he stepped back a little and smiled.

"Hawkes said the team would meet at Sullivan's to celebrate the closing of the Moormann and the deli/gym bag cases and he said I should tell you and ask if you wanted to come…"

"You wanna go?" Stella widened her eyes.

This was new…

"Why not?" Mac returned with a little smirk.

Yeah, _why_ not…

"Great! Let's go," Stella happily agreed.

Why damage the positive mood with questions about possible problems like 'being careful about not being too obvious…'? That would happen soon enough anyway, all by itself.

"When are we supposed to be there?"

"8:30," Mac replied.

"Oh good, that gives me time to take a little shower and change," she determined.

"Need company?" he winked, the memory of their second little restroom adventure still more than fresh in his mind.

"Don't get cute," Stella playfully punched his chest a second time before she headed for the shower rooms.

XXXXX

"Phe-pheeew!"

Flack gave a loud wolf whistle when he spotted Stella at the door at Sullivan's a bit more than an hour later.

She had her hair put up with little combs at both sides above her ears and had changed into a light, short white summer dress with little blue flowers, a jeans jacket was placed on her shoulders. Mac was right behind her, holding the door open while she entered, spotting the crew at their regular table.

"Hey Stel," Flack greeted her with a broad smile. "You look gorgeous!"

The others agreed and also welcomed the two of them cheerfully.

"Hey Mac, wanna make sure that we don't kick over the traces and drink too much?" Danny teased Mac who hardly ever joined them for a drink after shift before.

"_That_ could really be recommended for the one or other, hum?" Stella quickly jumped in to prevent Mac from regretting his decision to come before he was even seated.

"You are the right one to say that…" Danny mumbled carefully to avoid speaking out too loud.

Stella had heard him anyway.

"Come again?!" she shot him a challenging look while she took her place next to Lindsay.

Mac joined her on the corner seat so that Stella was sitting at his left side, Hawkes to his right.

"Well, in _this_ case, Danny has a point," he teased her while taking his jacket off and placing it next to him on the bench.

Now it was Mac who got a sharp look.

"Why are you still talking about that **one** incident at the Christmas party four years ago?" she complained exaggeratedly. "I only had _a little_ too much eggnog. And I was **just **a little tipsy!"

Mac waited for a moment to make sure there wasn't more to come.

"May I draw your attention on March 1998?" he suddenly asked.

Stella looked confused.

"Well, you may try – but I can't promise you'll have any success with that," she replied, trying to remember what he might be getting at.

He started explaining until it dawned on her. Her jaw dropped slightly in disbelief.

"I can't believe you still remember that! That's SO long ago, it's not even true anymore… How come you still remember that?"

"Well, I remember that you were pretty funny and cute that day…" he sheepishly returned. When he saw that Hawkes and Danny exchanged knowing glances, he quickly stopped talking.

"Thanks. I think…" Stella slowly replied, not really knowing whether this was something nice or not.

The conversation switched to other topics that had her attention until she suddenly felt Mac's leg brushing against hers. She looked over in surprise, but he didn't even seem to notice.

_Must have been accidental,_ she figured and turned her attention back to the conversation she just had with Lindsay.

When the "accidental" touches continued, her eyes slightly narrowed.

_Two can play this game..._

She carefully moved her right hand under the table, so that the others wouldn't notice, and placed it on his left thigh. She smirked when she felt him tense slightly at her touch.

"Stella!" he quietly warned her.

"Yes, Mac??" she whispered back.

"Quit that..."

"Quit what?" she innocently asked, continuing her little game. The hand moved a little further to the inside of his thigh and slowly started its way upwards.

"That!!" he hissed, jumping again.

He discreetly tried to escape her touch, but without success. By moving further to his right, he would end up on Hawkes' lap. Inwardly, he vowed vengeance. Yet he was amazed how she could stay so calm.

From time to time, Stella glanced in Mac's direction. She could feel the reaction of his body and she was pleased as Punch about the effect she was having on him.

"Mac, are you okay?" she asked with faked concern when she removed her hand after a while. She had to fight hard to suppress a chuckle when she saw the absentminded expression on his face.

"Hum-hum..." he mumbled, not trusting his voice enough to speak.

Smirking, Stella leaned over to him.

"Getting any better?" she purred in his ear.

Mac glanced at his left side from the corner of his eyes and mumbled under his breath so that only Stella would hear it.

"You are SO in trouble when we get out here..."

"I hope so..." she whispered back, flashing him a smile that resembled the floodlight in Madison Square Garden during a nightly event.

TBC

**I'm planning on updating real soon, unless there are technical problems again - so go and show me. Chappy "If You Don't Leave Now..." is waiting for you :-)  
**

**xxxlittlesheepxxx**


	7. If You Don't Leave Now

**Thank you soooooo much - you guys really rock :-)**

**This chapter - and the next one - features the song "A Night To Remember" by Bryan Adams. Picture it as background music, imagine the lyrics to be the expression of Mac's thoughts, try to hear the voice along with the images... The song is amazing!**

**Author's note: Stella's address is authentic, it's the one from the show. Mac's address is my creation and I want him to live in a house, not an appartment (I like the idea that one has a house, it's more private). I've never been to NY, I don't know if you can live in that area, but on the map it looks nice ;-)**

**XXX **

_**Chapter 7 – If You Don't Leave Now…**_

"Good night everyone!" Lindsay called over her shoulder as she followed Danny to his car. He had promised to give her a ride home. Hawkes would join them since his place was in the same direction. Flack also wished everyone a good night and left for his car on the other side of the street.

Only Stella and Mac were left behind, glad that to be alone now. For a moment they stood on the sidewalk, both silent and not sure about what to do next. A taxi came around the corner to their left. Stella reacted first. She stepped forward and motioned the cabby to come closer.

"What about my car?" Mac asked when the cab stopped next to them.

"Will spend the night here," Stella replied determinedly and opened the door for him.

Without further objections, Mac got into the car and waited for her to join him in the backseat. He was well aware of where this evening might take them. A shiver started running up and down his spine and hosts of butterflies began to cruise in his stomach.

After Stella had settled down and closed the door, the cabby started the engine.

"Where ya wanna go?" he asked in what could only be identified as strong New Yorker accent.

"2234 Lexington," Stella quickly answered.

"12753 Henry Hudson Parkway," Mac simultaneously returned.

Both looked at each other and chuckled. The cabby, a black guy in his sixties, turned around slightly puzzled and eyed his passengers for a brief moment. Then he nodded knowingly and smiled. Many years of experience had taught him to assess people within seconds. He could tell when a couple was newly in love from the first look into their eyes – and here it was just more than obvious.

While Stella and Mac were still chuckling about their responses about the destination of the ride, the cabby cleared his throat. He figured a little advice might be in order.

"May I sudgest summtin'?" he asked in his New Yorker cabby slang.

Without waiting for a reply, he continued with a smile in his voice: "Henry Hudson's lot closer…"

Mac briefly looked at Stella. She answered his unspoken question with a soft smile and nodded.

"Henry Hudson," he confirmed, his eyes remaining locked with hers.

The cabby nodded satisfied and turned around again. Then he checked the mirror and merged into the rolling traffic.

About 15 minutes later, the cab stopped in front of Mac's house.

XXXXX

"So…" Mac said after he had unlocked the front door and let Stella in.

"So…" she replied as she waited for him to lock the door again.

_Hum, we've already been better at this conversation thing…_

"You wanna have a drink or—"

Instead of letting him finish his question, Stella grabbed for his jacket and pulled him into a passionate kiss. Mac slightly stumbled backwards until his back was supported by the wall behind him. He wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and returned the kiss with even more passion. His right hand slowly moved upwards along her spine, winding her curls around his fingers while the left hand stayed on the small of her back, pressing her body against his.

Any doubts he might have had were gone within moments. There was an electricity between them – a kind of electricity that was definitely much nicer than the one that had caused the electrical shock he had experienced. The kissing continued to deepen. Neither of them was willing to break the contact just yet, even though breathing slowly started to become an issue.

Stella parted her lips a little, allowing Mac's tongue to explore her mouth which he started to do in the most gentle and tender way she could have imagined. Their tongues battled sensually, caressing each other softly. Stella carefully started to bite and suck at his upper lip, eliciting low sounds of pleasure from the back of his throat.

When her hands found the way under his shirt, Mac briefly interrupted the kiss to gasp for air. He felt her arms around his waist, pulling him closer into her. Each touch of her soft and warm fingers on his bare skin sending light sensational impulses along his waist and spine. Her eyes reflected the need for him, her warm breath sweetly caressed his neck and chest. The intimate closeness made his body ache for more and his lips longingly covered hers again. His advance was answered by a muted moan from the beautiful woman in his grasp.

_I love the way you look tonight  
With your hair hangin' down on your shoulders  
N' I love the way you dance your slow sweet tango  
The way you wanna do everything but talk  
And how you stare at me with those undress me eyes  
Your breath on my body makes me warm inside  
_

Suddenly he realized that they were still standing in the hallway and if things proceeded in this speed, they wouldn't get anywhere else. He pulled away a little and looked into her eyes.

"You sure?" he whispered softly to make sure they were on the same page.

"I am," Stella whispered back.

They definitely were.

Mac carefully wrapped his arm around her waist and gently led her upstairs to his bedroom. In front of the door he briefly paused again. It had a certain feeling of inevitability to it. As if it had always meant to be like this. Stella knew he wanted to give her the chance to back out before something happened that they couldn't turn back anymore.

"If you don't leave now, we will never be able to go back," he said hoarsely, his warm breath brushing against her neck.

"I'm not going anywhere…" she whispered softly, but determined.

He opened the door for her and let her go first. She entered the room and took a short look around. She had to admit that she was pretty surprised, she wasn't sure how she would have pictured his bedroom, but this was a lot nicer than she would have thought the bedroom of a single man could be.

The room was clean and friendly. The walls were painted in a light crème color, curtains in beige and terracotta covered the windows, a matching carpet was placed in front of the bed. The sheets and quilt covers were dark purple satin fiber.

Stella smiled to herself. Mac really had a good taste.

When the realization hit her that she was now standing in his bedroom with him right behind her, his hand resting on her right waist, she suddenly got a little nervous – and very excited. They had been colleagues and friends, close friends, for more than ten years now and probably knew each other better than anyone else. They had shared more secrets and personal moments than many married couples. And yet this was a step that would change things forever.

Mac noticed a slight hesitation after they had entered the bedroom. His touch was gentle, almost shy, as if he was looking for her permission to go on. Stella leant her head against his shoulder and pressed herself back against him. A silent moan escaped her mouth when his fingers traced along her neck until they stopped at the beginning of her cleavage. She slightly shivered, nervousness blended with an unstoppable desire to feel him, to be close to him.

They both knew that this was a line. Once crossed, it would never be like it had been before. Nothing would be the same. She turned to face him, all his emotions and feelings for her visible in his eyes as he kissed her tenderly in a gesture of comfort. His lips slowly moved to her ear, planting little kisses all the way while she tilted her head to the right side to give him better access.

Stella sighed deeply as Mac gently nibbled her left earlobe before moving further down, trailing the way to her collarbone with his tongue and soft kisses.

_  
Let's make out - let's do something amazing  
Let's do something that's all the way  
'Cause I never touched somebody like the way I touch your body  
Now I never wanna let your body go...  
_

TBC

-

**Let me know what you think - in the meantime if you didn't read it yet (although I can hardly imagine after that landslide of reviews that I'm still trying to recover from #ggg#), check out my episode-related story "Picking Up The Pieces". Next chapter for that one is ... almost done. Besides that, I have another short story almost ready for posting - and of course the next one here is waiting for you. Wanna have it? Hum???**

**xxxlittlesheepxxx**


	8. A Night to Remember

**It's about time, right? Won't bore you with long babbling here, you guys are so amazing, but you already know. Go ahead and read! Oh, and please - even if you might want to, no comments on the current season because people who might read the reviews possibly can't watch it "live" - don't spoil them even if you would love to right now ;-) Thanks! But you can comment on the chappy of course ;-) **

**I'm gonna take a little break with this one after this chappy (no worries, more is already written and will be posted soon!), I'd like to put another short one out for you in the meantime - watch out for "Mission: Possible" soon. And of course "Picking up the Pieces" will be updated (on Halloween or close to it) with "American Dreamers".**

**- **

_**Chapter 8 – A Night To Remember**_

Stella quickly relaxed and started feeling very comfortable – in his bedroom, in his embrace, under his touch. No part of her body was left starving for attention when Mac started exploring it with his hands and lips. She pulled him closer, showing her desire for him when he carefully laid her down onto the bed.

"Please..." she gasped breathlessly.

"Please what?" he teased without interrupting his affections.

She gulped, panting for air.

"Please Mac..." she whispered again.

He didn't stop taunting her. It was time for payback for what she had done to him at the bar earlier.

"Please what, Stella?" he asked again with a challenging grin, running his hand slowly upwards along the inside of her legs.

"Oh God..." she whispered, fisting the sheets tightly in both hands...

Mac laid down beside her and began to caress her stomach, feeling the silky cloth of her dress beneath his finger tips. He gently started undressing her, taken aback by all her beauty. He had been dreaming about this moment, but reality was surpassing all expectations. He bent down over her, lightly kissed her lips, then started working his way down her neck while his hands tenderly brushed along her sides and traced the outline of her black bra. Two fingers of his right hand softly moved along her cleavage, down along the inside of her right breast, then up again on the left side.

Stella closed her eyes and tried to keep her breathing under control as her mind focused on the pleasure he was providing. She squirmed under his touches and more and more low sounds of pleasure escaped her throat. She wanted more of this, she needed more. Now...

_  
Let's make a night - to remember  
From January - to December  
Let's make love - to excite us  
A memory - to ignite us  
_

_Let's make honey baby - soft and tender  
Let's make sugar darlin' - sweet surrender  
Let's make a night - to remember - all life long_

_- _

His right hand slowly moved lower, traced the outline of her briefs for a moment before moving further down to cup her. Stella gasped again, barely able to speak.

"What are you doing?" she managed to choke out with a shaky voice.

"Nothing you wouldn't like," Mac replied with a warm smile. "Try to relax, just let it happen. I promise I'll stop if you want me to, but I know you're gonna love it. Trust me, will you?"

Stella pressed her lips together to suppress a moan and just nodded, her eyes shut again. She inhaled and exhaled again sharply through her nose when he started working on her most sensitive spot, only using the tip of his right index finger. Actually merely just the fingernail gently but with increasing speed worked across the silky fabric of her briefs. Mac was right, it didn't take long until she couldn't fight the rising tension anymore.

-

___I love the way ya move tonight  
Beads of sweat drippin' down your skin  
Me lying here - n' you lyin' there  
Our shadows on the wall and our hands everywhere_

___-  
_

Mac tenderly took her hand and moved it to his chest as she struggled to regain her breath.

"My God..." she breathed, her body still trembling from the waves of pleasure that had just rushed through it. "That was so… incredible. I've never felt anything like this before. Where did you learn this?"

"I told you, you would like it," he smiled as he brushed a strand of hair out of her face.

"That's right, you did. Will you let me return this favor now?" she smiled as she moved lower. This time she wouldn't let him interrupt her intentions. This time, he didn't think about that.

-

___Let's make out - let's do something amazing  
Let's do something that's all the way  
'Cause I never touched somebody like the way I touch your body  
Now I never wanna let your body go..._

___-  
_

Stella slid back on his legs, placing tender kisses allover his chest and stomach. Then she leaned over him and carefully took him in her mouth. Mac's sudden gasp told her he liked what she was doing. She closed her lips around his tip and slid him in as far as she could. She loved the sound of her name on his lips while his hands were looking for support in her curls. He groaned as he hit the back of her throat. She moved back up a little, her teeth lightly dragging along his length.

"Stella, stop…" Mac choked hoarsely.

She ignored his warning and lowered her mouth over him again, supporting herself with one hand on his waist. Just a little more pressure and he was gone.

"I never really did this before…" Stella smiled slightly out of breath while she slowly moved herself back upwards, her fingers sweetly caressing his bare chest which was covered with a light film of sweat.

"You didn't have to…" Mac wasn't sure how to tell her that even though he had enjoyed what she had just done to him more than anything else, he didn't expect her to go all the way.

"I wanted it," she firmly interrupted him, knowing what he was trying to say. "And I liked it," she added with persuasion.

"I love you…" Mac whispered barely audible, merely thought aloud, as she planted little butterfly kisses allover the muscles of his abdomen.

"I love you, too," she replied within a second.

"What?!?"

Mac tried to sit up abruptly, his mind attempting to believe what he thought his ears had just heard.

"You heard me..." Stella smiled seductively and slowly pushed his upper body down onto his pillows while she straddled his lap.

"Stella..." he softly sighed, pulling her down into a deep kiss.

She broke free from his kiss to finish undressing herself. Quickly she unclasped her bra and slipped off the matching black silky briefs before she returned her attention to him. The passion they felt for each other was almost unbearable. And they both wanted it to last forever.

Mac was determined to see to her needs before he allowed himself to let go. And this wasn't all that easy. Even though the previous first release caused a certain amount of relief, his body was still extremely tensed and aroused. It had been years since he had been with a woman and being here with the woman he loved and desired so much was something his self-control could hardly manage.

All at once, Stella propped herself up a little to give him better access. She gasped quietly, her teeth biting on her lower lip when he entered her carefully. For a moment he thought he had caused her pain or discomfort, but when she grabbed for his waist to pull him closer, he knew everything was good. He waited for her to adjust to him for a short moment, then he pushed into her a little deeper. In a whisper just above silence, he heard his name coming from her lips repeatedly.

Their heart and soul, all the long-hidden feelings and emotions from years of waiting and the relief from the release of tension and fear from the last days of struggling were involved in their lovemaking.

Stella was having some trouble keeping up with him, but soon the feeling of his movements inside of her caused a build up of tension that was desperately looking for a release. Her breathing came in gasps and the increased speed of her body motions told him she was getting close to the edge.

Mac gently pulled her down on him and covered her mouth with his lips as she climaxed, stifling the soft cry she let out. He waited for her before he followed soon after with his own release when she climaxed again, tightening firmly around him.

XXXXX

They were lying in each others arms. Happy, contented, silent - in love.

Mac cuddled up close to Stella, his chest covering her back. He put his right arm protectively around her, snuggling the back of her neck with a light kiss. She was the most precious thing in his life. He had always felt more protective for her than for anyone else from the first moment when she had joined his team.

He turned to look at her, unable to put his feelings in words.

"I'm sorry..." he apologized timidly.

"For WHAT?!?" she asked surprised.

"I didn't mean to be so..." he struggled to find the right words.

"Mac, you were great..." she smiled comfortingly.

"I didn't make you feel uncomfortable?" he asked self-consciously.

Stella shook her head.

"No!! You must have noticed you didn't..."

He smiled, overcome with joy and emotions as she curled up in his arms, her head faithfully leaning back against his chest.

___Yes, I did…_

They gazed into each other's eyes for a long moment.

She made him feel complete. She filled that void in his heart that had been there for so long. He wanted to be loved and wanted to give love. With her by his side, he knew he could do just that. His hand softly started caressing her stomach, then moved upwards to lightly brush the bottom line of her breasts before gently cupping and pressing one after the other.

Stella answered his affections with a small gasp, almost unable to breathe as he began to taunt the spot behind her right ear with his lips and tongue. She pressed her body back against his. The fire burning in her was immediately back and almost as unbearable as it had been earlier.

They made love for a second time, even more tenderly and passionately than before, if that was possible at all, exploring one another devotedly.

XXXXX

"I love you so much…"

The voice that she loved so much vibrated through her entire body as he held her in a tight embrace. Stella's was pressed against his chest until Mac put a finger under her chin to make her look at him. A tear rolled down her right cheek, another was forming in the left one.

"Tears again?" he asked in a mixture of concern and attempt to comfort her. "What's wrong, sweetheart?"

Stella sniffled with a tender smile and slightly shook her head.

"Nothing… It's different. Different tears now. Happy ones," she tried to explain before she gently brushed her lips over his to show him he had no reason to worry.

-

___Let's make out - let's do something amazing  
Let's do something that's all the way  
'Cause I never touched somebody like the way I touch your body  
Now I never wanna let your body go..._

-

Mac closed his eyes in relief and pulled her closer, he never wanted to let her out of his embrace again. Finally they managed to fall asleep in each others arms, neither of them imagining what would expect them the next day.

___- _

TBC

-

**Was it worth waiting for all this long time?? Hope you like it, more to come soon :-)  
**

**xxxlittlesheepxxx **


	9. The Mansion

I have to apologize for keeping you waiting for so long... but actually you got one new three chapter story (Mission: Possible) plus one more chapter for "Picking", so ;-) Anyway - I'm totally nervous because I'm going to a concert tomorrow (Texas Lightning, the German country band with Jane Comerford - you know her name from songs in some of my stories) and I had to distract myself. So I thought I'd reply to your sweet reviews and finally give you an update on this one :-)

THIS here now is the real beginning of the actual "Members Only" story - the first eight chapters are more a transition to connect this one to "If Love". If you remember - we just had the "Night To Remember" and now it's the morning after... Here we go:

-

_**Chapter 9 – The Mansion**_

The next morning…

It had been a long night. No, actually it had been a short one. When they had finally gone to sleep, it was after 3 a.m. Not much more than four hours later, Stella was already back at the lab.

And all she wanted was a cup of tea and a moment to herself to wake up without ruffle…

Since Mac's car was still parked at Sullivan's, they had taken a cab from his place. Stella had been dropped off at her place to take a shower and change while Mac had picked up his car and then went to the lab. This way, they wouldn't be spotted arriving together.

"Just let me get to my office and have some tea before anyone wants anything from me. Just once…" she silently mumbled to herself when her thoughts got interrupted by Mac who called from his office.

"Stella! Could you come in for a moment?"

Silent sigh.

"Okay, we'll try that again tomorrow…"

She turned on her heel and slowly walked over to the other side of the corridor.

"Hey…" he smiled softly as she entered the room and slowly scuffled to the chair in front of his desk. "Short night, huh?"

"It was worth it," she managed a radiant smile despite her sleepy mood.

Mac studied her face for a second, then he turned around and plied with the electric kettle behind him. Moments later, he handed her a king-sized mug of tea.

"There you go, I think you could need some of this now," he still smiled.

"I know…" she mumbled between slow sips of the hot liquid, both hands holding the mug. Little by little, life was put back in herself.

"Stella, I got a call from the Commissioner this morning on the way to work. He's a member of the most exclusive local country club and…"

"Yeah, I know," she repeated.

"Well, apparently so is Mr. Jonathan Prescott, you know who that is?"

"I know," Stella returned a third time. "Hey, I should get a raise for knowing this much!"

"Right," Mac chuckled. "I'll take that into consideration. After we dealt with the Prescotts."

"What about them?"

"Jonathan Prescott called the Commissioner this morning after his butler had informed him that his five year old son Nathan was missing," Mac replied.

"Come again?" Stella wondered, trying to sort the facts in her still sleepy mind.

"Why did the butler have to inform him about his absent little boy?"

"Prescott's not in town, he's on a business trip in Arizona and will only be back this afternoon. His wife was still asleep and when the butler wanted to wake little Nathan for breakfast, he found the room empty. Commissioner Jeffries wants us to go there and check the room and talk to the family to see if kidnapping might be a possibility."

"Did they leave a note – or is it possible the boy just took off?" Stella asked.

"Unlikely. He's too small to open the windows and the window catches have a child-lock."

"High profile case or just high society?" she mocked.

"We will see… For now we need to visualize the situation and check out what we are dealing with. Since the Moormann case is closed, we can give this one priority for the moment. Let's just hope that the little boy shows up again soon and unharmed."

He got up and got his coat, waiting for Stella to join him.

"Wait a second, I need to go to the 'little girls room' before we leave…" she grinned and pointed towards the restrooms.

Mac sighed exaggeratedly.

"Come on," Stella complained. "Remember the amount of tea you gave me? It's all in here…" she pointed at her stomach, "… and it wants to get out again!"

"Yeah, well. You know what they say: You don't drink tea, you only rent it," he smirked in return.

XXXXX

About 90 minutes later, Mac parked the car in front of a luxury mansion in an exclusive residential district outside of the city. They got out and Stella took a look around.

"Nice little home," she commented.

The 'nice little home' was a two-storied mansion of at least 4,000 square feet – per story of course, painted in bright white with shining black roof tiles. Large windows at the front indicated big rooms with high ceilings, the front door seemed more like an entrance gate to a castle. The mansion was surrounded by a park-like garden with carefully arranged flowers, bushes and trees. Not one leaf was growing in the wrong direction. The gravelly driveway led from a huge white-painted gate down at the street up to a large round flowerbed in front of the mansion. In the middle, a white marble statue reflected the morning sunlight.

While they were still looking around, the front door opened and a grey-haired man in a black tail coat, grey pants and bow tie surveyed them observantly.

"Let's go," Mac whispered to Stella, his eyes motioning in the direction of the man.

"Good morning Madame, Sir," the man at the door formally greeted them, his accent even more British than his entire appearance.

"My name is Rogers, I'm the Prescotts' butler. You must be Detectives Taylor and Bonasera, I assume. We've been expecting you. The masteries are out at the moment, but I will show you Master Nathan's room. I'm instructed to give you any assistance you may require, so please do not hesitate to contact me in case you need anything."

Stella gave Mac a disbelieving look.

How could someone talk like this in real life? The heavy accent only increased the exaggeratedly ranting talk. The only time she'd ever heard anyone speaking like this was in old British movies from the Sixties…

Mac made a hardly visible shrug and motioned for her to enter the door. He followed her in while Rogers closed the door behind them.

"Mr. Rogers," Mac started talking after Rogers had asked them for their coats, "I learned that Mr. Prescott is on a business trip out of town and will only return this afternoon, but I'm quite a bit surprised that Mrs. Prescott isn't here now…"

Rogers kept up his professional attitude.

"Mrs. Prescott has an appointment with her hairdresser this morning which she couldn't cancel. She should be back soon."

Stella's mouth dropped open when she heard this.

Mac immediately shot her a warning look not to comment on this right now. It wouldn't change the situation and they could do a preliminary check on the boy's room without the mother present.

Actually he had rather expected a hysterical woman pacing up and down the entire time and didn't really mind working without being bothered by this now. Yet he was at least as surprised as Stella to see that someone was able to keep an appointment with a hairdresser when their kid was missing and not knowing what had happened.

"Let me show you the way," Rogers firmly announced, motioning them to follow him.

"I can't believe this!" Stella whispered as they walked through endless hallways, overloaded with most likely very expensive paintings, vases and other works of art.

"I know," Mac agreed quietly. "But it's none of our business to judge this. We are here to examine the boy's room and to find out whether or not a crime was committed and that's what we're gonna do, okay?"

He looked over to her to check if his words got to her.

"Yeah, sure…" she unwillingly agreed.

"Good. What do you think happened here?" he asked as they reached the room that the little boy had disappeared from.

"Can I see through walls?" Stella shrugged a bit enervated, pointing at the still closed door in front of them.

"Well, sometimes I get this feeling..." Mac gave her a pacifying smile.

TBC

-

I promise not to keep you waiting again for so long! I'll try to calm my mind now and not to forget to pack anything for the concert - you go and write some nice little comments ;-) Thanks, you are sweet! xxxlittlesheepxxx


	10. Bartholomew or: Beam Me Up, Scotty!

**Alright - I'm in a very excited and therefore update mood now - so I'll give you two updates for the price of one ;-) A little note on this one: The animal part that's coming is sort of autobiographical - just that my Peruvian is a girl and does not go to exhibitions (her name is Eleni - that's Melina's second name btw) and of course you should NEVER let one guinea pig live alone! Never.**

**Enjoy and please review!**

**- **

_**Chapter 10 – Bartholomew or: Beam Me Up, Scotty!**_

Stella entered the room, keeping an eye on every little detail left and right of her. When she started looking on the other side of the bed, something quickly moved in a cage that was placed next to the window.

"Whoops! Hey, what's that? A rat?" she asked without looking closer, a little startled by the sudden movement.

"A RAT?!" an indignant, snobbish voice shrieked from the door.

Stella looked up in surprise. Mac's eyes also followed the direction the voice had come from.

"Mrs. Prescott, I'm Detective Taylor, this is Detective Bonasera. We're with the NYPD crime lab," he introduced them.

The woman ignored the polite introduction and turned to Stella without looking at Mac.

"Bartholomew…" she took a deep breath to point out the importance of her words by a theatrical break, "... is a prize-winning Peruvian guinea pig of best heritage!"

Her tone left no doubt that she expected anyone to see that on his own at first sight.

Stella slightly raised her brows and critically eyed the animal 'of best heritage' who was just cleaning its rear end with its mouth.

"Bartholomew …" she mouthed, wrinkling her nose and forehead with a_'this-isn't-true-or-what-?'_ look that only Mac noticed because he knew her and could predict her reactions like a seismograph could predict an earthquake.

They looked at each other briefly, both raising their eyebrows, shrugging at the same time so lightly that nobody else would notice and then quickly focused on something else to avoid bursting out laughing.

Stella continued processing the room while Mac started talking to Mrs. Prescott. He knew that in this case it was the much smarter idea to handle things this way. Normally he would let Stella have a female-to-female conversation with the mother of a missing child, but here he knew the moment they arrived at the mansion that this was a special situation.

When the butler had told them the lady of the house had an appointment with her hair dresser at the beauty parlor that she couldn't cancel – Stella was already close to hitting the roof. Their child was missing and the mother's only concern was her looks?

Nah, it would just go smoother this way.

After a while he knew as much as before. Mrs. Prescott had said goodnight to little Nathan, then Rogers had taken the boy to bed. In the morning, she had learned from her butler that the boy went missing over night and that her husband had already talked to his golf buddy the commissioner and so she had figured she could go to her appointment. That was all she had to tell him.

Still wondering about the attitude of some human beings, Mac had another thing on his mind which he already knew in advance would cause 'a little problem'.

"Mrs. Prescott, we will have to take the guinea pig and the cage to our lab to…"

He didn't get very far with his attempt to explain.

"But you can't take Bartholomew with you!" Mrs. Prescott screamed. "He has an appointment with his personal trainer twice a week and TODAY is one of those days. He has an important exhibition in Canada in two weeks and anything that distracts him now may harm his performance! Do you have ANY idea how much psychological stress this will be for him?"

Mac turned around because he knew what would be coming since Mrs. Prescott hadn't exactly spoken quietly. But it was too late…

"For God's sake, your child is missing and this beast here is evidence!"

Stella's hot temper finally won.

She had watched the scene from the other side of the room without paying much attention to the conversation. But she had been unable to miss the last part of it. Mac looked over to her, unsure if he should rather try to calm her down – which as he knew from experience was likely impossible in such a moment – or try to ease the situation with Mrs. Prescott who looked as if she was close to fainting after Stella's little outbreak.

He smiled, but just inwardly, then cleared his throat – a sign for Stella not to go any further. She knew she'd been close to crossing the line, but she couldn't help herself, this person was driving her nuts.

Mac gave her an appeasing _'Yeah, I know, but there's nothing we can do about it, that's not part of our job'_ look.

Then he turned back to Mrs. Prescott who was leaning against the doorframe, still gasping for air.

"What Detective Bonasera means with 'evidence' is that little Bartholomew here is our only witness. See, there might be trace in or on the cage or on him. So we need to take the whole cage and him with us to make sure we don't lose any evidence that might help us to find your son. I personally assure you that we won't do him any harm and that we will do our best to ensure that he doesn't suffer from any negative psychological damage. And of course we will try to make sure that he returns as quickly as possible so that he can keep his appointment today."

_Geez, I wonder if it sounds as ridiculous to listeners as it sounds to me while I'm saying this… _

"We will make sure he gets everything he needs to be comfortable. Detective Bonasera is very good with animals," he added to assure Mrs. Prescott. He could feel Stella's piercing look on his back without even looking at her.

XXXXX

When they were back on the way to their car, Stella sighed heavily.

"Beam me up, Scotty. There's no intelligent life down here!"

Mac chuckled.

"What the hell did you have for breakfast? Where did you come up with this stuff you just told her? I'm really surprised …"

Mac, carrying the cage and a small pet transport box with the precious animal in it, looked over to her.

"I made it up while I was talking… She was hysterical. What if she had refused to hand us the cage and the pig? Those people are not very rational and we have to face that and act accordingly. You could say – extraordinary circumstances require extraordinary action," he explained in feigned seriousness.

Stella shook her head, blowing a little air through her nose.

"Huh. Sometimes I really wonder about you."

He smiled as he waited for her to get into the car, then he opened his door and put the little transport box with the animal in.

"Take this, will you?" he asked, pushing the box onto her lap. After this, he opened the trunk to place the cage in it.

"Great…" Stella grumbled.

"Okay, little fur ball - listen to me: Take a seat, close your mouth – and no smoking during the ride, are we clear?"

Mac grinned and burst out in laughter when the pig suddenly gave a short_'Squeak!'_ in return.

"Guess that was a _'yes',_" he chuckled.

TBC

-

**Okay, this was the first part - don't forget to review and then move over to check out the update on "Picking Up The Pieces" - I finally managed to finish a chapter on the episode "Grand Master". Tried something new, little drama involved. Hope you like this one - and the other one :-)**

**xxxlittlesheepxxx **


	11. Attention: Snappy Pig!

**Alright, I apologize for the long waiting period - to be honest I wasn't that motivated to update because of the little response lately (Hey, I've seen stories for other shows that get 100 reviews for only three chapters - don't tell me that those shows have more fans... Can't be! And don't tell me that CSI: NY fans are just lazy... You can't let that stand like this ;-)). But I was also busy with other stuff - just got reminded of this by getting a review for another story, so that made me want to update spontaneously (see, it works #LOL#).**

**Short reminder: Remember my description of Chief Atkins from "If Love..." - don't mix him with Sinclaire from season 4!**

**- **

_**Chapter 11 – Attention: Snappy Pig!**_

_**SQUEEEEEEEAK!!!**_

Mac had been alerted by loud squeaks and had headed over to the lab room. Now he was watching through the glass doors how Stella was trying to handle the guinea pig and at the same time to get some hair from him by using a comb. Danny watched her from the other side of the table, having great fun with teasing her.

"Hey, I thought no pets allowed at the lab," Mac heard him joking.

"One more comment and I will stuff this little fur ball into your big mouth, Messer!"

Mac took this as a sign to intervene.

"Hey – I said COMB, not kill…" he joked as he entered the lab room to ease the situation.

Stella looked over to him and forgot to focus on the animal for a moment.

"OUCH!"

"What now?"

"It bites!" Stella returned in a mixture of surprise and complaint, holding up her left index finger that didn't show any visible sign of damage.

"This might be easier if I gave him a shot of Valium… or strychnine," she mumbled with semi-seriousness.

Mac fought hard to suppress a laugh.

"You okay?" he asked, trying to remain serious.

"Yeah, besides my punched finger, I'm fine," she returned slightly huffed.

"Come on, let me help you. I think it's easier if one person holds the animal and another takes some samples, hum?" Mac tried to make a peace offering.

Stella nodded and handed him the guinea pig.

"You hold, I comb," she firmly stated.

A few minutes later, they had collected some hair samples from the animal, had taken samples of a powdery substance with duct tape from its back and had taken samples of the wood shavings in the cage and dusted the cage for prints. Little Bartholomew was back in his cage, now hiding in his house. Only his backside was visible in the door.

"What's wrong with him now?" Mac wondered.

"Maybe he is grumbling about the inappropriate treatment for an animal of his heritage," Stella mocked.

They bagged all samples in evidence bags and labeled them and Mac offered to take them to Trace for analysis.

Stella cleaned up the work place when Flack poked his head through the door.

"Hey Stel, have you seen Mac? I'm on my way to the Prescott residence, I heard that Mr. Prescott is back from his trip and I wanted to see if you guys already found something that I can tell them."

"We just finished processing, Mac is taking the samples to Trace. If you are going there anyway, you can take their hairy little beast back with you," Stella replied, more than glad that now she wouldn't have to go there again to take the guinea pig back herself.

Flack briefly eyed the animal hair on her shirt and started sniffling a bit. He wasn't really looking forward to transporting some shedding animal, most likely smelling and causing dirt everywhere, in his car.

"I think this is not such a good idea… You know, cat allergy," he returned sniffing a little more.

"It's guinea pig…" Stella retorted.

"Oh…"

XXXXX

After she had finally convinced Flack to take the animal back to the Prescotts, Stella went over to the print lab and started working on the prints they had lifted from the pig's cage and the boy's room. Most prints naturally came from the family, butler Rogers or the cleaning personnel, but then the computer suddenly beeped.

_Match found!_

Stella jumped up and clicked on the result. After a few moments, the printer gave her what she needed and she headed over to Mac's office to show him what she had found. When she was just about to walk around the corner in front of Mac's office, she heard a voice that made her stop abruptly.

"Okay, Mac. When you see Bonasera, tell her to visit me in my office. I'll see you later, keep me informed."

_Chief Atkins… Again??_

Stella quickly started wondering if there might have been another complaint filed against her recently or what the reason for the Chief wanting to talk to her personally might be. It couldn't be about the Moormann case – that case was closed.

What else could it be?

She figured she hadn't done anything wrong and started to get furious before even knowing what was going on.

"Lord, send me patience!" she sent a quick prayer upwards when she saw him leaving Mac's office. She wanted to cool down before a possible discussion with Mac and turned away when he spotted her.

"Stella! Have a minute?"

She stopped in her movement and turned around again.

_Damnit!_

"Quick!!!" she added, looking up to the ceiling another time. Then she took a deep breath, put a smile on and headed towards Mac's office door.

TBC

-

**I know, this one was a little short - but I promise to update quickly (if you promise to show me you are still with me - I miss quite a few (formerly) regular names here :-)) The next two or three are my favorites for this story - ready for it? The next one will be "He knows..." Getting curious?**

**xxxlittlesheepxxx **


	12. He Knows

**Okay, the begging did partly work ;-) Still missing a lot of familiar names around here - everyone out skiing? #ggg# Anyway, I promised to update quickly, so here we go - the next chapter for you guys.**

**Read, enjoy and please review :-)**

**- **

_**Chapter 12 – He Knows…**_

"I just had a talk with the Chief..." Mac started in a very calm and friendly tone, being immediately interrupted by Stella whose prayer apparently didn't reach its destination in time.

"I don't believe this!" she started blustering, flinging the folder with the print results onto the floor. "How the hell am I supposed to do my job if it's not even possible to state my opinion in a normal conversation?"

"Stella…"

Mac raised his eyebrows in total surprise because he didn't expect this at all. Normally he would react better to her temper, but now he wasn't prepared for such an outbreak and didn't even really know at all what had caused it.

"I didn't get personal, nor did I say anything inappropriate or impolite for that matter," she went on, ignoring his attempt to explain.

"Stella…"

"What do these people think who they are? First they neglect their responsibility for their children and then when something goes wrong, they call the Commissioner and leave for beauty restoration and assume the police will fix things. And if that doesn't work…"

"Stella, it's not about…" Mac made another attempt to obtain a hearing.

"… they call the big boss again and complain because things don't immediately go as they expect. Great! Those people just think they can buy and fix anything with money. I really can't…"

"DETECTIVE!"

Stella stopped immediately and looked at him, totally puzzled and a bit concerned. He had never called her with her rank before. This sounded serious and official…

"Phew, sorry. But this was the only appropriate way to stop you here," he sheepishly smiled, somewhat surprised at his own action as well as at the effect it had.

"So? There's also an inappropriate way? Now, how's that?" Stella got curious, raising one eyebrow while asking the question.

Maybe she wasn't in that much trouble after all?

"I could've done this…" he slowly got closer and looked her in the eyes for a brief moment. Then he softly pushed her back, pressing her against the wall and closed her mouth with a long and passionate kiss.

After he let her free again, he continued "… but THAT would be REALLY inappropriate, hum?"

"Mm-hm…" she nodded, totally flabbergasted.

"I agree... YOUR method was much more appropriate than ... this. Although for the boss it's not exactly--"

"Um, yeah... Can we work that out later – in private?" Mac smirked.

"By the way, speaking of the boss..." he carefully started an attempt to finish the sentence he had started a while ago, this time ready to face yet another explosion.

Stella just looked at him without a reaction.

_Damn it, I thought he might have gotten distracted enough to forget about that..._

Mac hesitated for a moment. Did he just see her roll her eyes in feigned resignation?

It seemed safe to go on...

"Chief Atkins was here a couple of minutes ago. He'd like to see you in his office. And before you jump at my throat again..." he quickly added, "I have no idea what it is about. He just told me to let you know he wants to see you. But from what I can tell, it's nothing bad, so just go there now. And Stella?"

She turned in the door on her way out.

"What?"

"Be nice..." he smiled.

"Ain't I always?" she forced a smile, unsure about what might expect her upstairs.

He nodded with a reassuring look.

XXXXX

Stella went to the elevator, entered and reluctantly pressed the button for the head floor.

On the way up, she reflected the situation.

Why would the Chief call her personally to his office? Very odd situation, she never got called up there in the past, not even when someone had filed a complaint. The Chief would always talk to Mac, who would then handle personnel matters. But apparently Mac didn't know anything, so what did that mean? If it wasn't for a complaint, what was this about then?

She didn't come to a logical conclusion.

_Pling!_

The elevator doors opened. Stella took a deep breath and stepped out into the corridor. She slowly walked over to the Chief's office. In front of the door she straightened her back and tried to make a self-confident impression. She could feel that she was already going into a defensive mood, ready to fight back against whatever he had to say to her and she hated being in this position. She felt like standing back against the wall before she had even entered the room.

After another deep breath, she firmly knocked.

"Yes, please!" a deep voice from the inside answered.

XXXXX

A while later...

Stella stepped out of the Chief's office, closed the door behind her and turned towards the elevator. In there, she leaned back against the wall and inhaled deeply, then slowly let the air out again in a deep sigh while shaking her head.

_Geez! What was THAT?!? I wonder what Mac will say when I tell him about this…_

She was so lost in her thoughts that she practically stumbled into Mac's arms when she stepped out of the elevator again.

"You wouldn't believe what just happened..." she mumbled while she walked around him, leaving him behind slightly confused.

He looked after her for a moment, then quickly followed her.

"Hey… Stella, wait! What did he say to you?"

She didn't reply, but walked on to his office, around his desk, propping herself into his chair with a heavy sigh. He followed her and closed the door. Then he slowly walked around the desk and put his hands on her shoulders, softly petting them.

"Bad news?" he carefully asked, concerned about hearing something negative although he really couldn't figure what that could be. After all there was one little thing he hadn't told her before she went upstairs.

She didn't react, just concentrating on his touch with her eyes closed.

"Stella?" Mac quietly asked.

She slowly opened her eyes again and looked up at him. In this moment, she appeared like a little girl who was afraid to confess that she had her fingers in the cookie jar to him.

"Mac, he knows..." she quietly said.

"Knows what?" he calmly replied.

"Us," she whispered. "He knows about us…"

TBC

-

**Now you need to review quickly so that I can update quickly - the next chapter will be a flashback to what happened "up there". Wanna know? You know what to do ;-)**

**Please watch out for my Christmas story - a little oneshot called "It Only Took One Kiss To Know" which will be posted tonight or tomorrow!**

**xxxlittlesheepxxx**


	13. Personal Personnel Affairs

**I have to apologize - I promised a fast update and you did review nicely, but I somehow forgot to post over other things... Deeeeeply sorry! I guess I'll make that a resolution for New Years: Write even more and even better stories and post more often and update faster. How's that?**

**Speaking of posting more - I decided to write another chapter for the "Kiss" story, I had the feeling the story wasn't over yet. It should be finished and ready to be posted today or tomorrow. **

**- **_**  
**_

_**Chapter 13 – Personal Personnel Affairs**_

**Flashback...**

Stella opened the door and tried to smile, remembering Mac's advice to be nice.

"Detective Bonasera, c'mon in," Chief Atkins said in a friendly voice.

Stella slightly frowned.

This can't be good... Why was he so friendly? She knew the Chief liked her and particularly recently things were going really good. But this was an official call upstairs, certainly not an invitation for small talk…

_Relax! Wait to hear what he has to say before you start freaking out…_

She called herself to order.

_Nothing's happened yet..._

"Please, have a seat!" he offered with a gesture to the big leather chair in front of his desk. "Would you like to have some coffee?"

_Coffee?!? Am I on the right planet?_

Stella got more and more confused. What she had expected – and what she was ready to face – was something like _'Sit down. We need to talk. ...', s_hort and impersonal sentences in a professional sound and especially some reproaches of whatever kind. The normal routine – just usually with Mac in between as a buffer and mediator.

And now he was offering her coffee...

Her whole defense strategy collapsed. If he confronted her with anything right now, she would be lost and she was aware of that.

"Stella?" Chief Atkins gave her a questioning look.

"Sorry! No thanks, no coffee..." she snapped back to the present.

"Alright then, let's talk a little. The reason why I wanted to talk to you personally…"

Stella held her breath.

_Here we go..._

"… is that I wanted to discuss the annual evaluation report for the personnel file with you."

Stella hardly managed to avoid gasping or slumping down in her chair.

_WORSE_ than what she had expected!

_Personnel review?_

She didn't understand – this was Mac's job… _HE_ was the boss and responsible for the staff…

Why did the Chief call her in about this and why without any chance for preparation?

This wasn't good...

"Look, I hope I didn't scare you," he continued, well noticing that Stella was a bit shocked by his opening.

"You don't have anything to worry about," he assured her.

"This is NOT the regular personnel interview, that will be done by Detective Taylor later, just as usual. I just wanted to talk to you in advance about some things and I'll explain to you in a few moments why that is, okay?"

Stella nodded wordlessly, trying to appear self-confident although she felt like a rabbit facing a snake that was fixating on its prey before the final attack.

_Okay? … As if I would have a choice…_

"First of all, the department is granting each member of the staff a bonus payment – this is nothing personal, this is granted to everyone and is an appreciation of good work of the whole team within the last year."

Stella smiled carefully, starting to feel a bit better. She still couldn't really classify the situation, but somehow she sensed that it wasn't going the way she had feared or expected.

"You personally will get praise for good work in the Moormann case – you did a great job on that one. Without the evidence you found we would never have been able to crack the case and this had been well noticed by the department," Atkins smiled at her.

Stella was flattened.

This surely was _TOTALLY_ different from what she had expected…

"You may wonder why you had to come up here to have me tell you this..." he continued, obviously thinking for a brief moment about how to go on.

"Let me put this straight first – I do in no way have any interest in personal matters of the team nor do I give any credence to rumors going around in the lab and I also would never interfere Detective Taylor's work regarding the supervision of the lab and staff..."

_Uh-oh... THAT's where the music plays..._

Stella suddenly realized what this was about, but couldn't finish the thought before the Chief continued.

"... but there have been some rumors going around in the lab - and somehow also made their way up here - that there might be something going on between you and Detective Taylor. Something that doesn't have to do with the job."

Stella was ready to jump up and start to argue on the spot without even thinking about where she was and whom she was talking to, but Chief Atkins interrupted that thought before she could even finish it.

"Don't even think about starting to argue that there isn't be anything. Do I have 'Stupid' imprinted on my forehead? My eyes and ears are still working perfectly fine even though I haven't worked actively in the field for years now and even without the rumors I could have told there is something."

He almost sounded like a father who gently but determinedly lectured his child.

"Before you start to panic, let me tell you one thing: I personally don't care what you do and with whom because it's simply none of my business. Period. As long as work is not affected, I don't need to know about it."

Stella gave him a puzzled look. This was really more than she could take.

No accusations? No reproaches? No restrictions? What the hell did he want then? Should she deny? Defend herself? Defend Mac? Protect him by pretending there was nothing? Admit that it was true? Say nothing?

What?!?!?

She carefully nodded in response, waiting for more to come.

"See... Officially the department doesn't appreciate personal relationships within the teams, but as the word says – it's personal. Keep it that way! I know that both, you _and_ Detective Taylor are highly professional and I expect you to let your professional attitude take the lead at work. What you do after work - is your business. As long as that stays clear, you have my support."

Stella couldn't believe what she had just heard. Now she had a hard time to suppress a broad smile. Mac surely would drop dead when she told him about this.

"The reason why I called you in before the official personnel interview was just that I wanted to make sure you get the information about the bonus and some other facts from me first – just to avoid that the rumors boil over and things like preferential treatment because of a possible personal relationship to Detective Taylor come up. This is to protect the both of you, I hope you understand this?" he seriously asked her.

Stella nodded.

"I do," she spoke for the first time since she had refused the coffee offer.

"Good, then we are clear. I think then I don't need to remind you again, you know what you need to do. Thanks for your time, Detective."

He got up and reached her his hand with a friendly smile.

**Flashback end.**

TBC

-

**Let me know how you liked it :-) Thanks for everything! xxxlittlesheepxxx**


	14. Rumors and More Rumors

**New year, new chapter :-) Thanks to everyone who's been reviewing and also to those who couldn't log in (but reviewed anyway) and those who didn't have time yet because of real life interferences and to those who ... forgot so far ;-)**

**Hope you remember where we stopped - short summary: Stella told Mac about her meeting with the Chief (Please remember this is another Chief than on the show, this story has been written before I knew that guy!) and now we move on with the case (the missing kid from the mansion):**

**- **

_**Chapter 14 – Rumors and More Rumors**_

"He was really nice, Mac…" Stella finished telling Mac about what had happened while she was upstairs.

"I have to make a confession…" he reluctantly admitted.

Stella wrinkled her forehead and looked up at him again, since he was still standing behind her, his hands softly massaging her shoulders.

"You know, when you saw him coming out of my office earlier…" Mac carefully went on.

"Yeah?"

"He talked to me about it then, I just couldn't tell you."

"What did he say?" Stella asked nervously, afraid that the Chief might have told Mac something other than what he told her.

But what sense would that make?

"He told me if I would hurt or disappoint you in any way, I would be in really big trouble," Mac smiled while Stella dropped back into his chair with a sigh of relief.

"What?!?" she almost laughed in disbelief.

"Stella, you know he likes you. He doesn't have any children and you are like the daughter he never had. He cares about you in more than a professional way even if he can't really say that officially. He also said that there won't be any problem with the IAB since we are not officially partners like cops on patrol, but work in different combinations within the team. Of course there could be a problem because technically I'm the supervisor – even though we have the same rank - and there might be trouble within the team because others might suspect preferential treatment or feel disadvantaged, but I convinced him that this wouldn't be an issue. For now I still think we shouldn't publish the news yet, but eventually the others will learn about it anyway."

"Hum..."

"What is it?"

"Well, now that even the Chief is backing it up..."

"Yeah?"

"What if we increase the validity of the rumors?"

"Anything special in mind?"

"Don't look at me like that, Mac Taylor!" Stella grinned and rose from his chair to pick up the folder with the print results from the floor next to a file cabinet where she had tossed it before going to meet the Chief.

Suddenly Mac grabbed her from behind after making sure nobody was watching from outside of his office.

Stella jumped in surprise and hit her head at the opened top drawer of the cabinet.

"OUCH! Not again…" she groaned. "Dear Diary,...today my obnoxious boss tortured me again…"

Mac chuckled.

"You know that there will also be rumors if I keep running around here with bumps and bruises all the time, don't you?" Stella complained with a smile.

"Well, one more reason to prove that there's nothing wrong between us, right?"

Mac approached her with a suggestive look in his eyes. Then he placed his hands on her waist and pulled her into a slow and tender kiss.

"I would love to but I'm afraid my boss doesn't allow any flirting at the lab," she teased him as she freed herself from his embrace, reminding him of what he had said to her after she had told him about Sid flirting with her at the morgue a while ago. Yet she was more than happy about his changed attitude and enjoyed the frequent close moments more than anything else.

"We don't exactly flirt, do we?" Mac asked rhetorically as he pulled her back into his arms. The look in his eyes told her that this game wasn't over yet.

"Well," Stella started, squirming herself out of his grip again, "since it's still early morning and we didn't really do anything yet – how about if we try to get some work done first, hum?"

"Hey, I'm the boss! That's my line," he smirked.

"Stella, we got a result from the blood samples!" Adam called as he burst into the office. Then he stopped abruptly, giving Mac a confused look until he realized it was _his_ office and therefore no surprise to find him in here.

"Sorry… Morning, Mac, I didn't want to, I'm sorry, did I interrupt something?" he stammered, not sure where to look.

Mac tried to avoid a grin. He would never understand what Adam's problem was. He was the best analyst they had at the lab, yet he always seemed very confused, insecure and almost shy when it came to talking to him or Stella.

Fear of authority?

This, even though Mac didn't consider himself as a very authoritarian boss.

"Relax, Adam," he said therefore. "What have you got for us?"

Stella gave Adam an encouraging nod which he returned briefly, then he turned to Mac to answer his question.

"I analyzed the blood you collected from the guinea pig cage and fur and it's not a match to the hair samples you gave me from the little boy's hairbrush. But I found common alleles which indicate close degree of relationship."

He was back in his familiar profession.

"Mother or father?" Stella asked him.

"DNA is male," Adam replied. "And it can't be the father. Parents give half of the DNA to a kid, 50 is father and 50 is mother. Which half is what, is purely coincidence. Test results are clear. It must be a close male relative, maybe a brother?"

"There was no brother. They didn't mention another son," Stella said, turning around to Mac with a questioning look.

"We didn't ask them…" he musingly returned her remark.

"Yeah, right. If not noticing that one son is missing, why mention there's another one in the picture," Stella sarcastically mumbled aloud.

"Looks as if we need to talk to the 'masteries' again," Mac commented.

"Then you should possibly also ask them if their animal is a known user…"

"What???" both Mac and Stella turned to Adam with surprise.

"Um, I also found trace of cocaine on the hair samples of the guinea pig. And when I tested the hair powder you brought me – almost pure cocaine."

This brought Stella's thoughts back to the folder with the print results she still had in her hands.

"Hum…"

"What is it?" Mac asked her.

"That might explain the print result I found," she replied slowly.

"When exactly did you wanna tell me about that?" he wondered.

"Actually when I was on the way here in the first place and then…" she hesitated.

"Right, okay," Mac realized they didn't need to discuss the reason for the distraction in front of Adam. It wasn't necessary that others knew about Stella's talk to the Chief or anything else yet.

"So why don't you just tell me now what you found?" he asked instead.

"Sure," Stella returned with relief. "A print lifted from the pig's cage got a hit in AFIS. Belongs to one Nigel Chesterfield, got busted for possession last year. No further arrests. Apparently daddy's lawyer got him out against payment of a larger sum for the local drug rehabilitation center…"

"Chesterfield…" Mac mumbled.

"Let me guess," Stella cynically asked. "Same league as Prescott, right?"

Mac shrugged in return.

"Figures. Well, whatever 'coterie' he or his family belong to, we will have to have a talk with Mr. Chesterfield Jr.," she stated.

"We will," Mac confirmed.

Cases like this one were never easy, but he was the last one to put social status over the law. If there was something wrong, they would find out, money or no money involved. In front of the law and therefore in front of his judgment, everyone was equal.

"I'll call Flack to bring him in. And you…" he pointed at Stella, "… are invited for lunch. I think you might need a little moment off, hum?"

She nodded wordlessly.

TBC

-

**Okay - if life allows it, please drop a review! Meanwhile, I finally started working on the next chappy for "Picking" (which would be a chapter related to "A Man A Mile") and I have a vague idea of where to start the sequel to the "Kiss" story (the Christmas/New Years one). But you go first now ;-)**

**xxxlittlesheepxxx **


	15. The Chip off the Old Block

**Finally... Well, now I'm in an updating mood and I hope you are in a nice r&r (read & review) mood again. Thanks SO much for all the comments on this and other stories and for putting my stories and me on your favorites' lists and alert :-)**

**This one's a bit short, I wanted to "tune" it a little, but it didn't seem to fit - I promise to update faster next time and to put in a little smoochieness (does this word exist??) if you like? Let me know ;-)**

**- **

_**Chapter 15 – The Chip Off The Old Block**_

Several hours later, they were interviewing Nigel Chesterfield at the precinct. He was a 22-year old guy, a typical high society offspring. College uniform, expensive haircut, smug 'my-dad-has-influence-and-will-get-me-out-here-in-no-time' smile.

Stella was delighted.

After they had unsuccessfully tried to get anything useful out of him for some time, she needed a break. On her way back from the drinks dispenser, she ran into an important looking man in an Armani suit. A camel wool scarf around his shoulders, his dark beige cashmere coat over his left arm, he positioned himself in front of her after he noticed that she was on her way to the interview room.

"I demand to see my son!" he barked at her.

"Excuse me??" Stella was too surprised to react.

"You are holding my son and I want to talk to him. NOW!"

Stella's eyes slightly narrowed as realization kicked in. What do they always say about 'a chip off the old block'? She could clearly see the family likeness from his attitude and behavior.

"Mr. Chesterfield, I presume?" she asked in a cold and distant voice.

"Nigel Chesterfield Sr.," cashmere coat finally introduced himself.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Chesterfield, you can't talk to your son right now," Stella tried to stay calm and professional. She really had had enough emotional stress for one day already.

"We are currently in the midd—"

"I have the RIGHT to see my son!" Chesterfield shouted at her, making a slight move in her direction.

"No, you don't," Stella coldly replied without stepping back. "Your son is being interviewed and since he is 22 years old, he is an adult and therefore parental presence is not required. He did not ask for a lawyer, so the interview is absolutely legal. Now if you would step out of my way, I have a job to do…"

"Not for long," Chesterfield foamed. "I'm gonna file a complaint against you and the department. I'm good friends with the New York police commissioner, we play golf together."

_Join the club…_ she thought.

"When I'm done with you, you can say goodbye to your badge!"

"Be my guest," Stella snapped back as she made her way around him.

"What was going on out there?" Mac wondered when she returned to the interview room.

"College boy's daddy playing Wyatt Earp," she whispered so that Junior couldn't hear her.

Mac briefly glanced at her.

"What??" she raised her hands. "Did you hear ME shouting out there? No. See?"

He nodded with a slightly pensive look.

"My dad's here, isn't he? My old man has quite a temper, you should be careful, detectives…" Chesterfield Jr. declared self-satisfied.

"Your 'old man' won't be able to help you out of this, 'young man'," Mac carefully chose his words as he leaned over the table to look into his eyes. "We found YOUR print in the little boy's room and now he is missing. We found trace of cocaine in the print and quite an amount of drugs in the powder used to style the Prescott's guinea pig. And YOU have a record for possession. Care to explain this now?"

"Maybe the pig's a user and doesn't want anyone to know?" Chesterfield Jr. gave Stella a greasy grin.

"You should be more cooperative," she returned, suppressing the urge to gag him. "They love sweet college boys like you in prison. And that's where you are going, rich daddy or not. Judges here don't like drug offenders and especially not habitual ones."

"Are you threatening me?" he looked at Mac who gave him an 'I-didn't-hear-a-threat' look.

For now he wasn't going to stop her. He could tell from the boy's eyes that he was about to talk.

"I'm not the one you are looking for," Chesterfield suddenly started.

Stella and Mac looked over to him in surprise about the sudden disclosure.

"You should be looking for dear old Daniel," he added.

"And who's this Daniel?" Stella asked him.

"Daniel Prescott," he announced, obviously satisfied with the effect of his reply.

"Prescott?" Mac wondered. "A relative?"

"The 'lost son'," Chesterfield Jr. confirmed. "The black sheep of the family."

"The blood sample…" Stella mumbled as she realized the connection.

Mac nodded.

"And now I'm not gonna say anything else without my lawyer," Chesterfield Jr. decided.

"You can go for now," Mac advised him absentmindedly. "But I wouldn't think about leaving town, we're not done yet."

"As it seems we need to have another talk with the dear Prescotts," he said to Stella after Chesterfield Jr. had left the room. "But that can wait until tomorrow, they won't run away."

Stella agreed and yawned.

"You hungry?" Mac thoughtfully asked.

"Nah, not really… It's been a long day, I think I'd rather go home and try to relax a bit."

She thought for a moment, wondering if all this really happened within the last 16 hours. Waking up in his arms for the first time, the Prescotts, the guinea pig, the argument with Mac, the talk with the Chief…

It had been a long day and she needed a time-out.

"It's such a nice evening, it's still pretty warm outside. And you have to eat. How about if we grab a bite, then take a little walk in Central Park to relax and I give you a ride home, hum?"

She looked at him and smiled.

How could she say no to this look in his eyes, this sound in his voice…?

TBC

-

**Your turn! I'll try to finish the "Man A Mile" chapter for "Picking" quickly and I have some other short term stuff running around in my mind... Keep watching :-)**

**xxxlittlesheepxxx **


	16. A Walk In The Park

**This chapter is dedicated to my Peruvian guinea pig Eleni who passed away last Sunday. She was the one who inspired me for the guinea pig part (Stella trying to comb the pig, the squeaking and biting...).****  
**

**Okay, whether 'smoochieness' is an official word or not is yet to be determined, but I figured it starts with 'sm' just as 'smacked', so it can't be completely wrong. Either way, I figured it is time to remind myself and you why the story is rated, right? Hope you like it :-)**

**Enjoy!**

**- **

_**Chapter 16 – A Walk In The Park or: From Dusk Till Dawn**_

**-**

It was another short night after all, even though Stella had planned otherwise. The walk in the park had become longer than they had intended.

For a long time they had just been walking silently side by side. Mac had taken her hand and then put his arm around her shoulder. She had enjoyed the closeness as much as he had. Being close to him was both exciting and relaxing at the same time for her.

They had stopped at a little pond and had watched the ducks resting on the still water, sleeping with their heads under their wings. The moon had been lighting up the peaceful scenery, the only sounds had come from the slow wind in the trees and the water fountain near the bench they were sitting on. It had been a wonderful, romantic evening and they had completely forgotten about time.

When they had arrived at her place, it had almost been 2 a.m.

Since it had been that late – or early depending on one's point of view – they had quickly agreed that Mac would spent the night at Stella's place.

XXXXX

"I'm gonna be asleep before my head hits the pillow…" Stella sleepily announced as she snuggled up to his side.

"You had a really rough day, just get some sleep," Mac quickly pounced and protectively put his left arm around her.

Too quickly…

Stella got suspicious and opened her eyes again. Slightly lifting her head, she noticed that he had some case files on the nightstand next to his side of her bed.

"Mac… You're not seriously gonna read that stuff NOW, are you??" she asked in a mixture of bewilderment and blank astonishment.

Although, why did she wonder – this was Mac Taylor…

"I just need to check some things that I didn't get done today," he weakly defended himself.

"You need sleep, Mac…"

"30 minutes, I promise. Then I'll put the stuff aside," he assured her.

Stella was too tired to argue. With a suppressed grunt, she curled up at his side and was sound asleep only moments later.

XXXXX

The next morning, she awakened to tender strokes along her arm and face. When he noticed she was awake, Mac placed a light kiss on her left cheek.

"Good morning, love," he smiled at her, overwhelmed by senses of pleasure from being close to her, waking up next to her, holding her in his arms.

"Morning…" Stella yawned and stretched in his embrace, then turned around to give him a sweet kiss on his mouth.

Then she leaned back and eyed him skeptically.

"What?!?" Mac exclaimed in feigned indignation at her unspoken question. "Yes, I did stop after thirty minutes," he grinned. "And yes, I did get some sleep then."

"Did you accomplish anything?"

"No."

Puzzled look.

"Why's that?"

"It was just so nice to watch you sleeping," he gave her a tender smile, "I couldn't focus."

"Uh-oh, I hope this doesn't become a permanent problem…"

"What?"

"You being unable to focus when I'm around. That could considerably complicate things at work," she grinned.

"Speaking of work…" he carefully changed the topic.

Stella sighed in response. "Yeah, right. Guess we should think about getting up, hum?"

"Wanna shower first?" Mac asked.

"Wanna shower together?" she returned playfully.

He eyed her briefly, calculated the odds of having a shower together and still being at the lab in time. While he was still debating with himself, Stella quickly jumped out of bed and headed for the bathroom. Watching her cross the room completely undressed helped him come to a decision.

"Hey!" he complained. "Wait for me…"

XXXXX

He reached out to run his fingers along her side, lightly touching her breasts from behind before moving on to caress her stomach with soft, gentle circles of his flat hands. She turned around to face him, warm water running over them. Her fingers danced across his well-proportioned chest muscles and abdomen down to his thighs. She smiled as she carefully examined his body, her fingers lightly wrapped around his shaft, stroking him softly. With each stroke, he felt the need for release getting more and more unbearable.

Remembering that he shouldn't just let her do all the work, he focused on pleasing her again. With one hand, he reached around her and pulled her into a sweet, passionate kiss while the other hand slowly made its way between her legs to find her most sensitive spot. She tossed her head back and breathed his name in a low moan. Encouraged by her response to his actions, he carefully slipped one finger inside her, feeling her muscles tightening around him. She moaned again.

He lowered his head to kiss and caress her breasts with his lips and teeth until she winced in a mixture of arousal and delight. Her breathing rate increased and her body bucked eagerly against his thrusting finger while her hand tightened around him. He groaned involuntarily.

"Getting closer…" he choked out.

"Make love to me, Mac…" Stella whispered barely audible in the shower. She closed her eyes and let the water run over her face as he pulled her closer to him.

They made love slowly, dreamily. He kissed her and stroked her, did everything he could to please her and make her feel comfortable. The way his body moved against hers reminded her of a soft massage.

"Almost there," he whispered in a hoarse tone, his lips pressed against her collarbone.

She closed her eyes, just feeling the sweet sensations his motions were sending through her entire body.

"Look at me," he said softly. He shivered. "Do you feel that?"

She nodded slowly, then closed her eyes again. "I can't…"

"Let go…" he whispered in her ear.

Her contractions were slow and dreamy, yet incredibly deep and intense. He followed her moments before the second wave of sensation faded. She leaned against him with a deep sigh, a shiver running along her spine like an electric jolt.

"I guess we need to have another shower…" he smiled after he had regained his breath.

XXXXX

Now, a little after 7 a.m., Stella exited the elevator and slowly walked towards her office.

Again, it was still very early and again she was dog-tired. This was getting to be a habit. Yet she didn't regret anything about it. Besides the lack of sleep, she felt better than she had in a very long time.

Mac had left her apartment first and drove to work in his car, she had followed 15 minutes later, after another shower alone, in her own.

"You look great," he said as she scuffled into his office.

Stella shot him a suspicious look. He had showered again at the lab and changed clothes. It was a good thing that he always kept extra clothes in his locker in case he would work through the night.

"You need to see an eye specialist!" she determinedly grumbled.

Early mornings AND overly jaunty people crossing her path then didn't go together very well.

"Maybe," Mac mildly agreed, the memory of their little shower adventure still all too present in his mind.

"But first we need to see the Prescotts again and talk with them about this other son that Nigel Chesterfield Jr. mentioned yesterday. That is, after we had some breakfast," he added. "Bagels and tea on me at Jimmy's?"

"Whatever…" Stella mumbled.

She would have preferred to slip back under the blankets and stay in bed after the morning shower with him, but life was a bitch and after all, breakfast shouldn't require too much attention. She would be able to manage eating without choking and maybe to wake up in the meantime.

TBC

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**What's the contrary of writer's block? Don't know what it's called, but the symptoms are too many ideas at once and the result is inability to decide what to work on first... Anyway, you can help me decide to move on at all - by reviewing ;-)**

**xxxlittlesheepxxx **


	17. Black Sheep

**No, I'm not joining the writers' strike (which thankfully is finally over!) - wouldn't make sense actually... Since my pay is your reviews - going on a strike for more reviews? Would be a bit counter-productive #lol# Sorry for the delay though, you've been very sweet with your comments :-) So here we go - ready for the next one?**

**- **

_**Chapter 17 – Black Sheep**_

At 9 a.m., Mac parked the car in front of the Prescott mansion. Just like the last time, butler Rogers opened before they got to the door.

"The masteries are awaiting you in the crystal parlor," he formally announced and turned to show them the way.

"Crystal parlor…" Stella mumbled, now fully awake after a nice and relaxed breakfast for two.

Again they walked through endless hallways to what geographically would have to be called the "West wing" of the mansion.

"Geez," Stella whispered in Mac's direction. "The way from my apartment to work isn't much longer than the way from the front door to the other side of this place…"

Jonathan Prescott was standing next to one of the big windows while his wife was sitting on the couch.

An enormous crystal chandelier was hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the room, expensive hand-made shag-pile carpets were placed in front of the couch and the huge fireplace, dark blue brocade curtains of the same price range were framing the windows. The furniture also looked expensive, some sort of Victorian style maybe.

"Detective Taylor, Detective Bonasera," Jonathan Prescott greeted them with firm handshakes. "I'm sorry we couldn't meet yesterday, I returned as soon as I could after learning that Nathan was missing. Do you have anything new about the whereabouts of our son?"

"Yes Sir, we do," Mac answered. "We found a fingerprint on your guinea pig cage which led us to a possible suspect."

"Who is it and does he have Nathan?!?" Mrs. Prescott jumped up from the couch.

Stella was mildly surprised by the sudden reaction. After the previous day she didn't have the feeling that Mrs. Prescott was very worried about her kid being absent. But maybe that had only been the shock, maybe there were some human feelings in these people after all?

"We questioned him yesterday, but he claims he doesn't know anything about Nathan. But he told us something else," Mac vaguely replied.

"What is it, Detective?" Jonathan Prescott asked.

"He told us we should talk to your other son, Daniel. Your wife didn't mention that you have another son yesterday. He doesn't live with you?" Stella asked back.

Jonathan Prescott's lips became a thin line while his wife tried to keep her countenance. Her face clearly expressed that Stella had touched a topic she would have rather kept locked some place where nobody would ever find it.

"Mr. Prescott, we found cocaine in the powder box you use to groom the guinea pig and I don't assume you, your wife or little Nathan are using it or intended to smuggle it to the exhibition you are planning to go to. Can you tell me anything about this?" Mac pressed him since Stella's question had remained unanswered.

Prescott cleared his throat.

"Daniel doesn't live here anymore. He got mixed up with the wrong crowd a couple of years back, around the time when Nathan was born. Back then, he had friends who were into drugs and so we sent him to a boarding school in Connecticut to make sure he had a good education without such distractions."

"Does he ever visit you? Weekends, school vacation, are you seeing him regularly?" Stella, whose opinion about the human feelings already returned to square one again, asked. These people abandoned their own child and now tried to hush him up because they were ashamed.

She expectantly looked from Prescott to his wife and back.

"He hasn't been here in over a year now," Prescott finally replied. "After we had sent him to this school, he didn't want anything to do with us anymore, he said. We were hoping he would change his mind over the time, but nothing like that happened."

_What a surprise…_ Stella thought.

"Was it Daniel's print you found in Nathan's room??" Mrs. Prescott exclaimed in disbelief.

"No, it wasn't. As I said, we talked to the owner of this print yesterday and he mentioned Daniel to us. Does the name Nigel Chesterfield Jr. mean anything to you?" Mac wanted to know.

"Chesterfield!" Prescott spit out.

_Apparently that name rings a bell… And not necessarily a nice one as it seems._

"That bastard was the leader of the gang our son got involved with five years ago. He was the one who organized parties using daddy's money to get drugs for his friends, alcohol, pills, you name it. But how did he get into our house and what happened to our little son?"

Stella and Mac both tried to get the new facts straight and combine them with what they already knew. An ex-friend of the older son was involved in drugs some years back, could still be now. The older son didn't live here, but…

"Does Daniel have keys to the house?" Stella suddenly asked.

Mrs. Prescott looked up at her.

"Yes, he would still have keys to all doors. He never returned them and we didn't exchange locks or doors within the last couple of years, why are you asking this?"

Stella looked over to Mac who nodded in return.

"There was no sign of forced entry. Besides, the security system would have given the alarm if someone had tried to break in. It could be possible that Daniel was here last night, that he opened the gate outside and the front door with his keys and that he let somebody into the house. Whether he did that voluntarily or not, we can't say yet," she explained.

"We're gonna need the name, address and phone number of that school," Mac said.

"Rogers will give them to you," Prescott agreed. "Please let us know immediately if there is anything new about Nathan."

"We sure will," Mac confirmed.

TBC

-

**Tell me what you think? Meanwhile, I finally finished the next chapter for "Picking Up The Pieces" and I'm eagerly thinking about how to move on with "As Time Goes By" - so keep watching :-) Thanks!**

**xxxlittlesheepxxx**


	18. Nothing Strange, Huh?

**#GASPS# 200 reviews! Did you see that? Whom am I asking? You DID this! THANKS :-) You guys are SOOO amazing!**

**Today is a very special day - no, not because it's St. Patrick's Day ;-) But of course happy St. Paddy's Day to everyone from Ireland or otherwise in the mood to celebrate. This day is special because:**

**-**

**HAPPY BIRTHDAY GARY! **

**This one's for you :-)**

**-**

_**Chapter 18 – Nothing Strange, Huh?**_

"Why didn't they try to keep Daniel at home, send him to another school here in New York, let him live with his family?" Mac wondered on their way back to the car.

"That's a 'Members only' society," Stella stated.

"It's what?"

"Members only. These snobs in high society circles have their own rules. Be different, you are out. Make one mistake, you are out. Lapses are unforgivable. That's throwing a bad light on everyone else and that is not acceptable."

"How do you know?"

"I've been to college with girls from this world. When you grew up in an orphanage, you don't exactly fit the profile to match their standards."

"You have my deepest sympathies," Mac told her in exaggerated compassion. "And you know what?"

"What?"

"I'm glad you're not a girl from _'this'_ world," he smiled, his head motioning back to the house.

"After what I've seen and heard the last two days… So am I," Stella agreed.

"Can you drive back? I'll try to reach someone at the boarding school."

"Sure, no problem."

He tossed her the keys and they started their ride back to the lab.

XXXXX

"This is depressing… I need something to cuddle," Stella declared after she lowered herself into the driver's seat.

"Hum…" Mac gave her a pensive look.

"What?"

"Some_thing_? Would some_one_ also do the trick?" he asked with puppy eyes.

"Could you detour a little and stop by at my place? I need to pick up some documents," Mac mumbled after some moments of silence without looking at her. He pretended to be busy with his cell phone.

"You wouldn't just say that to get me into your bed, would you?" Stella teased him.

"Sure I would," he returned very seriously.

"Good. Just wanted to make sure," she suggestively smiled.

XXXXX

"Finally!" Mac called after he had been transferred at least five times before he was able to talk to someone in charge. Now he had ended the call and nodded satisfied.

Stella briefly glanced over to her right side without taking her eyes from the street.

"What is it?"

"Light at the end of the tunnel," he returned excitedly.

"Be careful… It could be a train," Stella joked.

"Daniel Prescott hasn't been seen at school since last week, they are on vacation at the moment. They don't know where he is since of course the school doesn't need to keep track of their pupils outside of school time. He left, said he'd stay with friends in … get this … New York City," Mac summarized what he had learned.

"Who knew…?"

"I'm gonna have Flack do a little snooping, I think we should be able to find Daniel soon. We're gonna grab some takeout on the way back to the lab and after lunch we'll start checking out people he had contact with before he left for Connecticut to get an idea of where he could be now."

"After lunch sounds good," Stella returned, her stomach grumbling in agreement.

XXXXX

At Mac's place.

Stella wriggled herself free from Mac's embrace after they had entered the house and headed over to the living room where he caught her. Laughing and giggling, they both fell onto the couch.

"Mac! That's sexual harassment!" Stella faked a complaint when he tried to move his hands under her shirt.

"You won't tell your boss, will you?" he returned with a smile, not interrupting his task for a moment.

"Not if you play nice," she returned with a wink.

"What do you have in mind?" Mac wondered curiously.

Stella pushed him off her and got up from the couch. With a playful smile, she took his hand and pulled him to him to his feet to lead him upstairs to his bedroom.

After quickly undressing each other except for the underwear, they continued caressing each other on the bed. Mac started kissing Stella's left arm from the wrist over the inside of her elbow joint up to the collarbone. From there, he slowly made his way down along the inside of her breasts until he reached the waistband of her panties. He playfully let two fingers slide in and traced the waistband along her stomach, then he removed his hand again and focused on the insides of her upper thighs. He smiled when he noticed that she had closed her eyes in response to his attentions. When he gently helped her to remove her panties, Stella lightly moaned. Mac's heartbeat increased from the sweet sounds she was making and he quickly turned his attention to the last remaining piece of cloth on her. Stella squirmed with pleasure when his lips devoted their interest to the newly revealed skin.

"My turn," she smiled. She rose up to her knees and bent over him, her right hand softly resting on his chest as if to make sure that he wouldn't try to escape. When she leaned forward to take him in her mouth, he groaned instantly. Stella let her fingers trail loosely over his thighs and Mac groaned again.

"Stella… please… stop…" he pressed out between heavy breaths.

She smiled inwardly and licked along his shaft again, her head moving up and down very slowly, applying just the right amount of light pressure with her teeth.

"Stella, I can't…" he warned in a choked whisper.

"You don't have to," she rejected his objection.

"Please…" he begged her again.

Stella hesitated briefly, then she crawled up his body and kissed him passionately while she straddled his hips. He clasped her waist to help her find a comfortable position. When his hands slid up her ribs, she caught them.

"Let me," she whispered, her voice husky with passion. "Let me pleasure you. I want this to go as slowly as possible."

Mac sighed in a mixture of surrender, anticipation and a little desperation, but he nodded. Stella's fingers traced his hairline, lingering on the sensitive skin at his temples. His chest muscles tightened when she leaned forward and let her lips and tongue brush over the rims of his ears. His eyes closed instinctively when she tenderly fondled the backside his skull.

Stella kissed him briefly before she changed her position so that he could easily enter her. His hands reached for her hips again and she felt him pulse inside her. Mac tried to push deeper, but she held him down by pressing her hands against his abdomen.

"Please…" he whispered another time.

Now Stella pushed back on her arms and began to rock lightly, just as slowly as she had told him before. He did not oppose her, but followed her pace and nothing in him seemed to resent it.

"Mac… you feel so good," she whispered, biting her lower lip to control her own feelings. She tried to squeeze her muscles together in an attempt to pull him over the edge. He was almost more responsive than she had hoped. Slowing down a little, she heard him sigh with gratitude. She put her hands on his chest again to steady herself and to quiet his thrusts. Mac groaned in return. Stella lifted herself up to his tip, then lowered herself completely on him again. When she almost released him another time, he shuddered. She took him in again and felt his body tightening. With one swift motion, he grabbed her hips and rolled her over so that he was on top of her. For a moment, he forgot to breathe. With his hands fisting in her curls, he started to thrust softly. Once, then again. Then he let go. Stella dug her nails into his back, mentally promising to make up for the red marks she felt it would cause when her own climax approached.

"We will have to note time for a break on our time sheets for today," Mac grinned after he was able to speak again.

XXXXX

Lindsay was standing absentmindedly in the hallway, her attention on the scenario in the break room she was witnessing for a while now.

"Ey, Montana – somethin' goin' on?" Danny asked as he approached her from behind.

"Hum…" she mumbled without turning around to him.

Danny got closer and watched over her shoulder. Through the glass walls they could see Stella and Mac sitting inside, both eating and sometimes exchanging a few words which they couldn't understand outside, despite the open door.

"I ain't seein' nuthin' strange. What's to see in there? Mac and Stella are having lunch in the break room, what's strange 'bout that? I mean, besides Mac taking time for a break…"

_Yeah, right. Two colleagues sharing a table for a common lunch break. No big deal,_ she thought to herself.  
_And those little smiles they had shared? - Just friendliness.  
The brief looks at each other? - Only part of the conversation, to make sure the other one was following along.  
His hand resting on hers just a moment too long when handing her the bag with her food… - To make sure she had the bag safely before he let it go.  
Him feeding her something with his fork? - To let her taste from his food._

_Sure, not strange. There could be a simple, noncommittal explanation for everything. Am I really just imagining this?_

"Come on, you're just kidding!" Mac's voice suddenly pulled Lindsay out of her thoughts.

Now the conversation in the break room was normal volume so that they could hear most of it in the hallway.

"Seriously, I'm absolutely full. And besides, I need to watch my weight," Stella emphatically refused his offer of dessert.

Mac laughed first, then carefully checked her out from top to bottom and rose from his chair to go around her, eyeing her… while she followed his actions with a questioning look.

"You're right, now I can see it, too," he expressed, pretending to be serious.

Stella grinned mischievously, grabbed for the paper bag that had contained their food and crumpled it up to form a ball.

"Get OUT!" she called laughingly while Mac jumped up and headed for the door.

Outside in the corridor, Lindsay finally turned around to Danny with a skeptical look as they watched Mac escaping the break room chuckling, the paper ball flying through the open door behind him.

"Nothing strange, huh…?"

TBC

-

**Hope you don't mind. Everyone who wants to wish Gary a happy birthday and have that published somewhere, do it here, the reviews are public - of course you can also review without birthday wishes ;-)**

**I added the M-rated part in this chapter because ... well, just because ;-) "Patiently" waiting for your reactions - xxxlittlesheepxxx :-)  
**


	19. The Return of the Lost Sons

**Sorry for the delay, I was a bit (and still am) distracted by something else. Should you by any chance have the opportunity to watch the "German Idols" show on TV (DSDS - Deutschland sucht den Superstar), have a look for the candidate named Stella (really!) and vote for her if you can :-) (Saturdays, 8:15 pm) She even looks a little like Melina - and of course she can sing really good.**

**But on with the topic here - next chapter is up. Hope you like it!**

-

_**Chapter 19 – The Return Of The Lost Sons**_

"May I come in?" Mac poked his head through Stella's door several minutes later.

She shook her head with a laugh.

"Only if you bring good news," she retorted.

"Better," Mac said while walking over to her desk. "Flack called and told me we need to go to the precinct a.s.a.p."

"And that's good news because… ?"

"Because he's not alone – and you'll never guess who's with him," he returned softly while he stepped behind her and put his hands on her shoulders, tenderly started to massage them.

"Who?" Stella mumbled slightly distracted. Her eyes closed involuntarily, her head leaning back against his soft touches.

"The lost sons – Daniel Prescott and his little brother," Mac declared solemnly.

"No kidding…"

"Nope."

"How…?"

"He said they just walked in there. Young man with little kid at his hand, asked for someone in charge in the Prescott case, got referred to Flack – and there they are," Mac reported what Flack had told him over the phone, never interrupting his work on her shoulders.

Stella sighed with pleasure.

"Any explanation for the sudden resurfacing?" she wondered.

"Not yet. Flack wanted to wait to talk to them until we are there. For now, the boys are enjoying NYPD hospitality. And some food from the vending machines, I assume."

"Poor kids, we should see that we get there quickly," Stella said, remembering the stuff in those machines the cops called food.

* * *

XXXXX

"Hey Flack, where are the boys?" Stella asked when they found Flack sitting alone at his desk, checking some paper work.

"Interrogation room 1," he replied.

"What? You put the poor kids in an interrogation room? Why didn't you send them to the common room, give them some magazines to read or something?"

"Little boy absolutely wanted to see where we grill the bad guys, so I showed them," Flack grinned.

Stella rolled her eyes and walked over towards the interrogation room, Mac following close behind.

* * *

XXXXX

"Daniel Prescott?" she asked the older boy after they had entered the room.

He nodded slightly, his lips pressed together, his eyes avoiding her gaze.

"My name is Stella Bonasera, this is Mac Taylor. We are detectives with the NYPD crime lab."

"How old are you?" Mac turned to Daniel.

"I'm 17, sir," Daniel quietly returned.

Stella and Mac looked at each other. In case of questioning a minor, parental consent or presence of an attorney would be mandatory. They explained this to the boy, but he refused either option.

"Hey Nathan…" Stella turned to the little boy with an open smile. "We've been looking for you, where have you been?"

The little five-year-old flashed her a broad smile, revealing a wide gap where once his upper incisors used to be.

"With Danny!" he firmly stated.

"So, with Danny," Stella repeated as she squatted down next to Nathan's chair. "And where did you stay with Danny?"

Nathan lifted his chin and looked towards the ceiling, thinking hard for the right answer.

"At a nice place. There was a room full of toys and there was a nice lady who made me peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I never get peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at home, mommy doesn't like it," he explained as much as he could.

_Why am I not surprised about that…?_ Stella thought.

"And what have you been doing?" she continued asking.

"Lot of fun stuff," Nathan beamed. "Played with toys, watched TV… And there was a puppy!"

Stella nodded at Mac. Apparently Nathan hadn't been held against his will and also apparently he didn't suffer neither physical nor psychological damage.

"Daniel, did you take Nathan from his room the other night?" Mac asked in a calm and friendly tone.

Daniel nodded guiltily.

"You used your keys to sneak into your parents' mansion and you let your friend Nigel Chesterfield in with you," Mac continued.

"That son of a bitch!" Daniel cursed silently so that his little brother wouldn't hear it. "What did he tell you?"

"So far only that you were the one we would want to talk to. We found his print in your brother's room. We also found cocaine which I believe does not belong to Nathan. Can you explain that to us?" Mac went on while Stella took care of Nathan. He smiled as he watched her how she explained a picture book to him.

Daniel followed Mac's gaze, then looked back at him after he saw that his little brother was in good hands.

"It was his idea… We were buddies before," he stopped for an instant, "…before my 'family' kicked me out and sent me to a boarding school for troubled children. Nigel knew that I still had keys to the house and he knew about this guinea pig beauty pageant that my parents plan to go to. My father and his dad had talked about that. My parents are crazy with this stuff, I mean – who would go to Canada for something like that? Nigel said we could put some dope in the guinea pig equipment, they would never search people like my parents at the airport. He said it would be easy, just sneak in, place the stuff and sneak out. In Canada, a buddy of his would grab the bag with the pig's stuff and get the dope out. I didn't want to, but he threatened to call my school and tell them about the trouble I was in four years ago. No charges have been filed, I assume dear old dad paid enough to let them drop it, but the school would have dismissed me on the spot. They are the top elite and they don't allow any kind of criminal behavior, present or past," he told them. "And I can't afford that, I'm close to the finals and then I wanna go to Europe to study."

_Members only society…_ Stella thought once again.

TBC

-

**Okay - and another request because it seems urgently necessary. Would you all please go to and there to the "shows" section and register for the CSI: NY fan forum if you haven't already (I never went there before) and then PLEASE post your comment on the current situation (those who watch season four will know, I don't want to spoil anyone, so please don't comment here in the reviews!) and that we do NOT want this?? Please!! It's directly on CBS and they will monitor those boards for fan reactions - we HAVE to give them our opinion! Hopefully they learn it if enough people complain. Thanks! And spread the message on other boards if you are active anywhere, the more complaints, the better!  
**

**Oh - and I wouldn't mind the one or other review (with only comments to THIS story here!) ;-) And I promise more stuff to come soon - really!  
**


	20. You know, Don’t You?

**I know I'm terribly late with this one, sorry! I actually meant to post this about 2 weeks ago because ... just as I posted one for Gary's birthday, I wanted to do the same for Melina. So, let's just pretend today is April 23 and say:**

**HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MELINA :-) This one's for you!**

* * *

_**Chapter 20 – You know, Don't You?**_

* * *

"What went wrong?" Stella quietly asked while turning a page and showing Nathan the next picture in the little book.

"First everything was good. We got in, everything was quiet. The house is so big, nobody would notice if you sneaked around in another area. Nathan's room is far away from my parents' rooms, so there was no risk that they would notice anything in the middle of the night. And Rogers' room is in the guest wing anyway. He always goes to bed early and gets up early, sleeps like a rock unless you ring for him. We got to Nathan's room, sneaked in, placed the dope in the powder box. And just when Nigel wanted to place the bag with the pig's stuff back in place, the stupid fur ball came out of his house, got startled by the movement – and rushed back into his house with a loud squeak. You'd never believe how loud these little creatures can be, they can wake up the dead…"

_Oh yes – I DO believe that…_ Stella nodded knowingly with her lips pressed together.

"Nathan suddenly rose in bed before we could get to the door and when he saw me… He asked what we were doing there, I told him I just wanted to see him briefly and had to leave again and that he shouldn't tell mom and dad about it, but he insisted on talking to me, he wanted to play, to run to mommy to tell her I was there. He was so happy to see me again… Nigel urged me to leave before anyone else noticed we were there, but Nathan wouldn't stay – so I told him he could go with me on a little fun trip. Which he excitedly accepted of course…"

Daniel looked over to Mac who had remained silent the entire time.

"How did you plan to move on from there?" he asked the boy.

"I didn't have a plan. Hell, I didn't even want to have him with me… Everything happened so quickly. I think I was just going to drop Nathan off somewhere with the phone number of my parents and tell someone to call them to pick him up. I took good care of him, I love my brother, I would never hurt him!"

Mac rose from his chair and walked over to the door.

"I'll tell Flack to ask Mr. Chesterfield Jr. in for another talk," he said. "Daniel, we're going to need your statement and then an officer will take you and Nathan home."

"I'm not in trouble?" Daniel asked unbelievingly.

"Not in front of the law," Mac told him.

"You went into your parents' house, used your own keys and your brother followed you voluntarily. Nothing happened to him, the drugs weren't yours. We only found Nigel's prints on the powder box and cage with the drugs in them. You might be in trouble with your parents, but that's something you should work out with them. You are old enough and apparently you are a very smart young man, your parents can be proud of you. You need to talk to them, explain what happened. If you need help, let me know. You can call any time."

He handed Daniel his card.

"Thank you, Detective Taylor…"

"You're welcome," Mac gave him a reassuring smile before he left the room to look for Flack.

XXXXX

* * *

"What do you think about cutting the day short today?" Mac asked parenthetically as they were driving back to the lab.

"Deal!" Stella replied almost before he had finished the question.

He looked over to her in surprise.

"What?? Come on, you asking me to clock out early? Rare chance - who am I to decline that? Gotta grab for it while it's still close enough," she grinned at him. "And besides, I could _really_ need some sleep…"

"Sleep? I thought we go and have dinner at "Luigi's" and then spend the evening at my place and…" Mac pouted in feigned disappointment.

"Mac…" Stella rolled her eyes with a sigh.

"I promise to keep my hands by myself," he quickly assured her.

_You're actually not the one I'm worried about…_

XXXXX

* * *

They had been having dinner at a nice little Italian restaurant and had then returned to Mac's place. It seemed like a silent agreement that private time was to be spent alternately at both places. After a glass of wine in the living room and some fondling on the couch, they had soon relocated to the bedroom.

Even though it was actually still too early to go to sleep, both of them were pretty tired and exhausted and enjoyed just lying in each other's arms. Stella's head was resting on Mac's chest, quietly listening to the beating of his heart while he tenderly stroked her back with one hand, feeling her warm breath on his bare skin. The pleasure of his touch, the warmth of his body against hers and the steady rhythm of his heartbeat had an almost lulling effect on her.

Just then, Mac's cell phone interrupted the magic of the moment.

Reluctantly his hand left Stella's skin and grabbed for the nasty interrupter on the nightstand. After a look at the display, he sighed.

"It's Flack," he announced. "Be quiet…"

"I'll stop breathing," she mocked. "You better make it short…"

Mac placed a quick kiss on the tip of her nose and picked up the phone. He listened, briefly replied, then ended the call.

"They busted Chesterfield Jr., he finally admitted the drugs where his. And… I'm not sure if he heard something in the background or if he was just wondering why I left early today. Don asked me if I wasn't alone…"

"And?" Stella asked even though she knew the answer since of course she had heard what Mac had said, just not the question from the other end of the line.

"You heard me," Mac confirmed her thoughts. "I said no…"

"Great. And what am I supposed to say if he asks me if I know you have a girlfriend?" Stella complained, knowing that she would be the first one to be asked about a possible development in Mac's private life.

"Say yes."

"WHAT?!"

She couldn't believe he was serious with this.

"Well, you do know, don't you?" Mac smiled and pulled her back into his arms.

"Yeah, right…" she mumbled sleepily while her attention shifted back to his embrace.

After all – he had a point…

_**The End (of Part 2)**_

* * *

XXXXX

* * *

_**Epilogue (or preview for Part 3)**_

Stella looked at Lindsay. Something wasn't right. Lindsay couldn't speak, she looked like she'd seen a ghost. She tried to say something, but when she opened her mouth, no words came out. Instead, she started crying. Crying because of what she had just learned, but more because she had no idea how to tell Stella. She just walked over to the TV and turned it on without saying anything.

Stella was confused at first. The news were telling a story about an abandoned military truck that had been found somewhere in Central America, without a trace of the passengers, reportedly the driver, two other soldiers and an unconfirmed fourth person. She slowly walked closer and then it hit her.

The report came from an area where the US Marines had a camp in the jungle. Mac had been ordered to investigate some incident there as a CSI and former Marine who would be familiar with the military rules and background.

She couldn't breathe. This couldn't be true. Tears started streaming down her face as she was staring at the screen. She felt somebody grabbing her shoulders and gently shaking her. A familiar voice that seemed to come from far away called her name.

"Stella? Stella… what's wrong?"

TBC…

* * *

**…in the upcoming part 3 to this story – watch out for "If Ever I See You Again"! I recommend putting me on author alert because I will post it as a separate story, so you won't be notified if you only put this story on alert.**

**Oh - and don't forget to review this one and let me know whether you want to know what happens in part 3 at all ;-) Those who review will receive a personal alert for part 3 with the review thank you message :-) Thanks for everything! xxxlittlesheepxxx**


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